A Phantom Of A Titan
by ImaSoBored
Summary: Devastated by the events set in motion by his fight with Dan, Danny leaves Amity, heading to Jump City to start over and hide from the enemies accumulated by his ghostly alter ego, only to get caught up in the formation of a new team. A team which recognizes that he is something very few others realize. A hero. *Cover Art By BlueStar95*
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to my first ever attempt at a Danny Phantom/Teen Titans crossover story on this site.**

**I will attempt to update regularly but with school, family, other commitments and my own chaotic life don't ask too much. As far as timeline goes all of this occurs some time after the Ultimate Enemy in the DP timeline (How much time will be revealed at a later date) and Teen Titans Go will be in a few chapters.**

**By the powers vested in me as an author, I hereby declare the following disclaimer to be valid for the rest of the chapters in this story: I do not own Danny Phantom or Teen Titans.**

**Ok now that all that is out the way here we Go!**

Protolog

Danny groaned as he looked up at the darkening sky. _'Looks like it's gonna rain.' _Danny groaned again, kicking the pebble in front of him harder than he did before, sending it flying and embedding itself in a nearby tree. He groaned again, realizing his frustration had caused him to subconsciously supplement his enhanced human strength with superhuman strength, greatly increasing the power behind his kick. For a spit second he wondered how much strength it would take to shatter that pebble on contact before a rain drop on his head reminded him that he better find shelter. Not that the rain bothered him. The cold did not bother him at all thanks to his ghost side and he could just phase off any water he got on his clothes. No, what he was concerned about was that fact that he looked strange enough, a kid in what looked like brand new clothing walking along the road toward the city, with a backpack that was certainly too small to carry everything one would need for such a journey. Add in the fact that there was a chill in the air that was cold enough to warrant one wearing something warmer than he was currently wearing and he was concerned enough with people giving him strange looks as they passed by on the road. But if it started raining people would certainly think more of a kid walking in the rain and the fact that he was not even shivering would definitly catch some eyes.

Danny sighed again. He had a few options. Continue as he was and risk his identity and his powers getting discovered. Or transform and fly the rest of the way to the city and risk getting pick up on _their_ sensors which would defeat the purpose him trying to be discreet. Or he could find something to wear that was both warmer and would protect against the rain. He didn't want to do that either. Danny smiled as he imagined what Sam would think of his new outfit.

Gone was the plain whit tee shirt with the red circle on the chest and the matching red trim on the neck and sleeves. Gone were the plain blue pants and the red and white sneakers. And gone was the regular teen look he had tried so hard to maintain in the past.

He now wore a grey muscle shirt with dark blue pants and a belt with a grey skull as the belt buckle. Black sneakers with a red trim now adorned his feet. Now he almost constantly wore a pair of sunglasses over his eyes. Over his shirt he had a simple black leather jacket with a dark blue trim usually zipped up a little above halfway up his chest. The Wes ring he now wore on a small chain around his neck. On the same chain was a locket with his white DP symbol with a black trim on the front. Inside it had two pictures on the inside that could only be opened by a fiver digit combination lock that was underneath a sliding panel on the back. One was a group shot of Mom, Dad, Jazz, and Danny. The other was a picture of his two best friends Samantha Mason and Tucker Foley.

Danny made the decision to veer into the forest and find a suitable place to rest for the night. Humming to himself quietly he mused over what had transpired ever since his fight with his older evil self. Apparently the fight between himself and his easily much more powerful evil self put out a lot of ectoplasmic energy. Enough that it could be picked up by the prototype sensors that the Guys in White happened to be developing at the time.

No sooner than he had handed off Dan, contained in the Fenton Thermos, to Clockwork and gotten his family and friends and Mr. Lancer away from the boiler that exploded not seconds after they were out of range than they were on him. Beyond tired at that point as well as beaten, bruised, a cut on his side that was bleeding a little bit more than would be safe for a normal human, and a broken left arm and fractured right leg and another clean cut right across his forehead that was getting ectoplasm in his eyes and would later become a whitish scar. Not to mention that at that point his hair had seen better days and his Hazmat suit was in tatters. In this barely still conscious state he was amazingly still in ghost form they caught him.

Danny winced at the memory. He could still recall being roughly grabbed by some kind of shoddy Guys in White version of his parents Ghost Gauntlets. He could still remember being tied to a table that was then pushed into the cargo hold of a waiting jet air plane. He could still remember his friend's terrified screams as they desperately tried to rouse him to attempt to escape in his barely conscious state. He could remember his sister yelling out "Let me go!" as his parent restrained his sister from attempting to rescue him, despite their own apparent confusion at why anybody wanted to stop the Agents from doing their job in stopping a known dangerous 'ghost'. He could still remember Sam's cry of pain when she attempted to stop them and one of the agents backhanded her to the ground and warned her not to interfere as well as the sound of Tucker giving a tackle that Dash would have been envious of to one of the agents in his dead sprint to save him. He could hear the agents then pin Tucker to the ground and shock him as punishment for interfering, eliciting a scream of pain from his best male friend. He could hear the simultaneous gasps of surprise from all the Agents, his teacher, and both of his parents when he finally transformed back. And then the sound of the jet taking off as his two best friends were joined by his sister and his parents in their almost synchronized scream after him. And then he heard no more as darkness finally claimed him.

He was broken out of his recollections by the sight of a cave up ahead in the woods he was walking in. What's more was that the entrance was out of sight by the highway as well as the entrance being angled away from it. Perfect.

Suddenly hit with an urge to get out of the open and into the cave he rushed forward into a run, reaching the cave shortly after. He shook his head like a dog before suddenly his body turned blue as well as see through, the water falling off of him to the ground, creating a small puddle. He let out another sigh as he turned himself back tangible. Laying down his backpack to act as a pillow he sighed again as he closed his eyes and allowed the darkness to take him

**_Line Break_**

Opening his eyes he blinked away the sleep as he groggily got into a sitting position. He yawned, stretching like a cat before he heard the tell tale sound of his stomach growling. He blushed, embarrassed, even though there was nobody around to hear.

Danny grumbled under his breath:"Man, I gotta get to the city TODAY. Doesn't sound like I can go much longer without food. Knew I shoulda brought some with me from that last town but noo, I gotta be a dumbass. Stupid Fenton, it careless things like these that will lead to the Guy in White capturing you again."

Danny stopped himself from continuing. '_Man, I gotta stop talking to myself like that. People will think I'm weird if I do that in public. _Then he snorted quietly to himself in disbelief. Talking to himself was the last reason why he thought people would consider him weird.

After answering the call of nature and brushing his hair with his hand in a attempt to tame it as well as getting the dirt off of his clothes, he made his way back to the highway to continue where he had left off yesterday.

Danny let a small smile grace his lips as he saw the sun rise over some clouds on the horizon, which then broke out into a grin when he saw the city limits sign

"Jump City, here I come!" Danny declared as he began to walk forward, swing his arms in an attempt to show a calm, carefree nature to hide the nervousness he had inside growing just under the surface.

**End Chapter**

**So, how was it?**

**Love it, hate it, either way REVIEW**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1

Danny was grinning. He couldn't help it and he couldn't stop. It had been a long time since he was in a city that was bigger than just a few buildings grouped together, surrounded by a few one-story houses and he was dead _tired_ of the wilderness. His time of the forest had given newfound respect for nature and a new appreciation for its beauty. But one could only stand the overwhelming solitude that trees provided for so long.

'_Although'_ Thought Danny. _"I would be lying if I said that it wasn't productive'_

And it was true. With the assurance that nobody was around it see and that there was no nearby around which _they_ would have their sensors gave him the chance to really cut loose. Add in the fact that Clockwork decided that, while he was not going to give him access to the Ghost Zone, or use his time manipulation abilities to help Danny AT ALL, he was going to provide some information on Danny's ghost powers as a halfa. He couldn't deny however that if it was not for the information provided by the ancient ghost he would not have made even half the progress with developing new powers and his existing ones growing more powerful as well as getting better with using them in his human form.

The list of how many powers he had was now: flight at high speeds, invisibility, intangibility, spectral manipulation **( in other words changing his body in ghost form, like how he turns his legs together into a tail most of the time when he flies)**, ectoplasmic energy manipulation **( ghost rays, shields, and the like)**, greatly improved ice powers, ghostly wail, duplication by a factor of ten **(in other word he can create up to ten duplicates)**, overshadowing as well as a variant he had developed which he had called shadowing which involved him entering a person's body but not subjugating their mind to his will which allowed him to feel what they felt, listen to their thoughts and even communicate with them, as well as advance to overshadowing them at any time. His ghost sense had evolved as well. It still alerted him to the presence of ghost's but know he could focus on it and turn it into a sort of radar, letting him know about the location of any ghosts within the range of his ghost sense. Clockwork had also told him that even thought he had yet to, he could now sense other things as well, but he never really explained what he meant by that. He also told him that, thanks to him having a more stable ghost core than Vlad his core would develop more than the fruit loop's over time, allowing him access to more ghost powers.

"Eventually." The old ghost had said. "You will be able to manipulate a lot more than just ice."

The ghostly Time Keeper had refused to say what or when these changes would take place however, something that was frustrating him to no end. His endurance had increased as well as his strength, now able to use his new ghostly wail a good bit more than he could before.

He also had two completely new powers. One was telekinesis. In all honesty Clockwork confessed to him that almost every ghost could use telekinesis but few learned how. His own progress was going at a snail's pace. To him, it was one of the hardest powers he had ever attempted to use before. When he was moving something via telekinesis the hand he was using to guide it and the object would both glow the same shade of green as his eyes in ghost form At this point he could only lift up 1 moderately small nonmoving objects and not only did he have little control over the objects once they were in the air as well as the fact that he could not move them fast at all or hold them in the air for more than about half a minute. If he exceeded any of these self put limits he would lose control entirely and not only would the object drop, he would get one of the worst headaches imaginable. Oddly enough the headache and the general strain it put on him seemed to be less when he was in his human form. It was during these headaches that he felt something that he never thought he would feel. Respect for the Box Ghost. Because of the fact that Clockwork had informed him that the Box Ghost lacked one technique in telekinesis. Because the time master told him that if the Box Ghost learned this one technique and got over only using his telekinesis on boxes, he would be one of the most powerful ghosts in the Ghost Zone. The technique the Box Ghost lacked and that he was nowhere close to even think about was called overcharge. Basically it was the same as telekinesis except it involved charging the object with ectoplasm so that it could not be phased through.

The other power he had gained he had made even less progress and was just as troublesome and painful to use. It was teleportation. He could literally move from one place to another in a flash of green light instantaneously without having to move through the space. The downsides was that it was not precise at all, only thing he could guarantee was that would he would end up somewhere within a fifty meter radius. Add in the fact that using it gave him a headache just as bad as using telekinesis every time he used it, made him dizzy, drained, and it took awhile to actually use and it was labeled, alongside telekinesis and his ghostly wail as a ditch effort sort of thing. Currently he could use ectoplasmic energy manipulation, ice powers, intangibility, shadowing, overshadowing, invisibility and telekinesis in his human form, although all of them would cause his eyes to glow ectoplasmic green except his ice powers, which would cause his eyes to glow blue. Either way, it was a good reason to make a habit out of wearing sunglasses, especially since his ghost side gave him enhanced senses which included sight, making where he could see just fine sunglasses or not.

His thoughts towards his progress with his powers interrupted by the feeling of being shoved to the ground, his sunglasses breaking on part of his head hitting rather painfully against the ground. Before he could make an effort to lift himself up he was grabbed by his shoulders and then slammed against a nearby wall, sunglasses now completely broken with a few shards of them making a few shallow cuts on his face. He head was then forcibly turned so that the brick was pressed against his cheek.

"Give me your all your money, valuables, Everything NOW!" Said a voice that was a little too close to his ear for comfort. Great. It quickly became apparent what had happened. While he was thinking about his powers he had wandered into one of the more run down parts of the city the part of the city where situations like these happened regularly.

'_Although, this situation will have a very different ending I'm sure. Great, I spend time thinking about my powers and I end up getting myself in a situation where I might have to use him.'_ He sighed. _'Is it just me or am I doing that a lot lately?'_

Suddenly, he jerked his foot back like a mule, the heel of his sneakers landing home between the legs of the would be robber. The kick was enhanced by his superhuman strength causing two things to happen. One, the robber flew back and impacted against the far wall, sliding against it. And two, if the failure of a robber had any kids, he would not be having any more.

"Uhhhh HeHe Ooops" Danny scratched the back of his head nervously when the robber did not get up while at the same time cursing himself for once again losing control over his own strength. One of the good side effects of training was that all his physical abilities had greatly improved in both forms but a down side was that it forced to exert more mental control over his own strength than he was used to appear fully human. It also caused him to put a lot more forced behind his blows than he needed to Nervously, in case he was faking it, he slowly walked up to the robber and checked for a pulse, then sighed in relief when he found a steady, normal, pulse. He stared at the unconscious man, unsure of what to do next. Then his stomach growled. Reminded that he was hungry, he checked the man's pants finding his wallet with a few hundred worth of dollar bills inside. Taking the money, he felt guilty about taking money from a man who was forced to rob to get by then reasoned with himself that he probably stole this money anyway and he made up for it by leaving some and using the man's phone to call the ambulance. Walking away he was reminded of his broken beyond repair sunglasses. On a passing whim he plucked the man's own expensive but fairly common sunglasses off of his face and placed them on his own. Satisfied with the fact that he no longer had to plan on dumpster diving, stealing from restaurants, or from decent people to get a meal, he headed out toward the center of the city, where the restaurants were.

ALL**I**YOUR**I**LINE**I**BREAKS**I**BELONG**I**TO**I**ME!

Danny sighed happily patting his now full belly. He had found a pizza place that advertised great pizza at a reasonable price. And it had been a long time since he had a good slice of pizza. Or two. Two pizzas' later he was fuller than he had been in a long time and satisfied with himself. It was times like these he was glad that as a halfa he had a very strange metabolism, allowing him to eat as much as he liked and not get fat at all or go without eating for at least a week after a good meal and not feel hungry, although that time span would be shortened by the use of his powers.

Looking up he noticed that the sky was darkening. Another thing about being halfa, it gave him the ability to go without sleep for a while, although, just like eating, the amount of time was shortened by the use of his powers.

'_Although, I should find a place to sleep anyway. Or risk a few repeats with the mugger with the chance of there being a very different ending that might not be so pretty.' _Danny thought, a frown coming onto his face at the thought. No doubt there would be a police report on the attack on the mugger from this morning. _'Hopefully they will just assume that he just tried to rob the wrong kid. Or that he tried to rob some kind of metahuman that was having a bad day.'_ Technically that was true anyway. As long as they didn't try to find said metahuman, he should be alright. A light chuckle escaped his lips as he walked down the street, eyes looking for a suitable abandoned building to bunker down for the night. He didn't want to risk how suspicious it would look for a kid to have the kind of money for a hotel and no parents or luggage for clothing. Metahuman. The word brought forth mixed feelings from him. He had first come across the term a little bit after he escaped from the GIW. It was used to categorize people or beings that were human like that were capable of more than an average human was capable of. The word metahuman brought forth a little bitterness in him. He knew that many laws had been passed across the world to protect the rights of metahumans.

'_And yet they still insist on hunting me like an animal when technically I'm protected by the same laws that protect millions of other metahumans just like me. _Then he snorted. _'And some of those metahumans are breaking more laws that I am and yet they use their resources to hunt me instead of them? Besides, the only thing I have done illegally is stealing and that is out of necessity because of their hunting. Then again it does not help that someone decided to blame me for a lot more plus the many times I have been framed by my enemies._

He got lucky. An old building with boarded up windows, looked to be abandoned for a few years but still looked structurally sound. The door was chained and boarded so he flickered through intangibility to go through the side of the wall. Looking around it was full of spider webs and dust and seemed to be an abandoned storage warehouse. He sighed.

"Home sweet home." The young halfa grumbled to himself, silently vowing to find better more permanent living quarters tomorrow.

_I AM THE BEING KNOWN AS LINE BREAK! **FEAR ME!**

_Flashback/Dream/Nightmare_

_Danny woke up gasping for breath, heart pounding. He was in human form, his clothing having been replaced with what looked like a white version of a prison uniform. The room was bare except for the mattress he was on in the corner and a door that looked like it was stolen from a very high class bank vault. Danny looked around before closing his eyes in concentration._

"_Going ghost! Going ghost! GOING GHOST! Ugh, why can't I go ghost?" He said to himself, a slight edge of panic making itself present in his voice and sweat beading on his forehead from the effort. He heard footsteps approach from the other side of the door._

_The door slid open and Agent K stood in the doorway. He gave an evil smile and began speaking in a self satisfied conversationalist tone._

"_Try all you want, you dirty waste of skin; we have a ghost field up suppressing you from assuming your more powerful form. I have to admit, that is a neat trick of yours. Being able to change your appearance to that of a human is nothing special. But to be able to fake a heartbeat, breathing, and otherwise all signs of life is one neat trick. I'm gonna have to write that one down. Who knows just how many like you there are out there? You know I've done this job for a while now and as such I have seen some pretty strange things but your one for the book. Very useful. Explains how you have eluded us for so long. But no more. We have you now, you piece of ectoplasmic ghost shit. Our location is top secret so don't count on those people you fooled with your façade coming to save you. No ghost has ever even come close to escaping this facility. Welcome to hell." The agent finished with a cruel smile, ignoring Danny's terrified scream as he slammed the door shut behind him, locking it with a click_

_End Flashback/Dream/Nightmare_

Danny woke up with a start when he heard a scream that sounded like it came from just outside. Cursing his ghostly obsession to be a hero and protect, he turned himself invisible and phased his head through the wall to see something that made his blood boil.

A girl, with dark blond hair, tanned skin, and blue eyes was being assaulted by a guy with pale skin and brown hair. He phased the rest of his body through the wall and turned visible, taking off his shades. The woman gasped and pointed behind her as she saw a pair of glowing green eyes appear out of thin air.

The undead teen let out an animalistic growl, grabbing the would-be rapist by his shoulder and gave him a strong punch to the stomach, driving the air out of his lungs and making him gasp in pain. He brought the man close to his face and growled out "You like raping girls? Huh?! Like having power over them? You disgust me!" He threw the rapist to the ground knocking him out.

He looked at the terrified girl now cowering against the wall. "Gho..Gho…." She stuttered.

He sighed "Boo." He said flatly. The would-be rape victim fainted in shock. He let out a sigh of exasperation. "Why do they always faint? I mean, you see someone appear out of thin air, the air gets noticeably colder, they have glowing green eyes and they show signs of having superhuman strength, and their voice _might_ have a slight echo and you automatically assume that they are a ghost and you should be afraid of them?" He blinked once, then twice and then slapped himself for his own stupidity showcased in that statement. He eyed the unconscious pair before resigning himself to what he had to do. _'I can't let them tell the police that they were saved by a black haired kid with glowing green eyes that appeared out of nowhere that possessed a cold aura and superhuman strength. That would definitely get their attention.'_

"Man, I don't wanna do this." He stared down at the girl, brushing her check with the back of her hand. "She looks like she could be Jazz's twin. Oh, well."

Turning intangible, he phased into the girl's body. Working quickly, he changed her memories to where she fought off her attacker but then knocked herself accidentally after calling the police. Changing the rapist's memories to match hers, he relieved the criminal of some of the money in his wallet, called the police with the girl's phone and then high tailed it out of there.

OH NO! THIS IS THE END! IT'S A LINEBREAK

He stood on the roof, invisible, looking over the edge as the police carted the rapist away and comforted the would-be victim. If he was not invisible, people would say that he was watching the scene unfolding with great intensity. In actuality, he was deep in thought.

'_I acted without thinking, without hesitation. If I plan on living here, then no doubt that this thing is going to become a regular occurrence .It is my obsession to protect, to be a hero. I don't think that there is any way that I can stop being a hero without becoming something like Dan. And I don't know how long I can keep as clean as this one because physically, those memories are not possible. He was a lot stronger and faster than she was and I know that the forensics will not match up with it either. I might get away with it this time but, if I keep it up, someone will notice the mix ups. And start asking questions. Or worse, it'll get to them._

His frown deepened when he remember that if he went ghost, not only would their scanners surely pick him up, but the description would match almost dead on anyway, which would only confirm to them that it was the halfa. It was strange but he knew for a fact that unless he went ghost, he could use hi powers as much as he wanted.

He let out a low groan, as he reentered the visible spectrum of light, police having been long gone.

"Come on Fenton, you can figure this out. You had a C average when you went to school but you can figure this out. Let's see, can't go ghost unless I want a visit by the GIW, can use all ghost powers available but still risk being found. They didn't leak be to being Fenton and I want to keep the chance to live a normal life as Fenton so fighting crime as Fenton is out. Wait, I could disguise myself; avoid using all the ghost powers available to me as a human…. But there not stupid and I'm not faultless, they WILL make the connection eventually…" He trailed off, on the verge of having an idea. "Wait, what was it that Clockwork told me one time?"

He remembered asking the ancient ghost why, since he outed Vlad as a halfa during his stay at their ghost prison, why didn't they have him locked up as well?

"Because" The old ghost had started, with that mysterious smile he always had before he said something important or when something important had just happened "Vladimir is in the public eye. If anything happens to him, people will wonder where he has gone. And they will look for him when they do and when they find him, people will ask a lot of questions nobody wants for there to be answers to."

"If I disguise myself in human form and use a limited amount of my powers to become a well-known hero, then I will be in the public eye as well and they won't be able to go after me either plus being a hero means that there in n chance of me turning into Dan, its perfect!" Danny cheered to himself, mentally patting himself on the back for how ingenious his master plan sounded.

**END CHAPTER**

**Review replies**

J15n: **I kind of meant names like a superhero would have but thanks for the help anyways!**

Weirdo:** good suggestion and the answers is….some are dead and some are alive**

Guest:** Thanks**

Katiebug14: **Thanks glad you like it…actually now that you mention, I did get a fortune cookie that sounded a lot like that…..**

nightmaster000: **thanks for the suggestions**

ARavenDetatched: **Glad you like it**

hunnybee07 of the rose: **Thanks!**

I-AM-THE-LOVE-MONKEY: **thanks for your suggestion, glad you like it**

Jeanette9a: **Thank you for your suggestions, At the moment I am leaning towards Orpheus but we will see what happens. Thanks for the all the background info by the way**

Clockwork's Apprentice: **Glad you like it**

**Ima so bored OUT**


	3. Chapter 3

**I had planned an eventual DannyXRaven and a RobinXStarfire but just out of curiosity is there any alternate or other pairing that anyone would like to have for this story? Unfortunately boyXboy and girlXgirl are both OUT Sorry, nothing against them personally but I just can't write them. Anyway, ON WITH THE SHOW!**

Chapter 3

Danny grit his teeth in frustration for the fifth time that day. Ever since he had decided that he was going to try to be a hero in his human form and try to gain renown so that the GIW could not get to him without people noticing. But he was hitting a speed bump that brought his plan to a near standstill. Getting a uniform. It had been three day since he had come up with his plan. He had gotten up at the crack of dawn and began doing one of the most unnatural things for him to do. Shop for clothing. And it was going agonizingly slow. It wasn't like he did not know what he wanted, oh no. He had drawn detailed sketches of both each individual article of clothing that he needed as well as well as him wearing all of them together. He knew everything about the kind of clothing that he needed everything from the size he needed them to the kind of material he would prefer.

'_Maybe, I'm being too specific'_ Thought Danny as he left his fifth clothing store of the day. _'Just where the hell do heroes do their fashion shopping anyway? Glad that I didn't have to go through this the first time around' _And it was true. His parents made a machine that scanned a person's body and fabricated a hazmat suit perfectly tailored to fit them perfectly. A machine which could also make flawless repairs to any suit it created. Add in the facts that in the fact that you could program it to add in designs and could create an entire suit from just past specifications and he had never had to go shopping for his ghostly persona. Now he realized just how hard it had to be to shop for someone who needed clothes that were completely custom made as well as made out of material that was a lot sturdier than your average clothes and most of which was probably destroyed on a regular basis, you were looking at a very hefty clothing bill.

'_Which will also be a problem. It's not all that bad to take a little money here and there from lowlife thugs but if I want to get the kind of reputation that I need to protect me from GIW then I can't be known as the hero that steals from the bad guys. Which means that I will need some way to fund myself not only for clothes but also for food and eventually, somewhere nice to live. There's no point to this whole scheme if I end up having to live in some dirty, powerless, rundown, abandoned storage warehouse anyway._

Despite only having two run-ins with the local lowlife, and only taking a little over half of the strangely large amount of money that they were carrying on their person and then using some of said money to buy a meal, money, at the time, was currently no object.

Deciding to take a break from the self-inflicted mental torture that was called shopping he stopped at what he thought was a coffee shop. When he got inside the smell made him stop cold. _'Herbal tea…Sam... .' _The smell reminded him so much of her it made his knee's buckle, almost bring him to tears. Somehow, he managed to get into a booth before his legs gave out underneath him completely as the memories began to bombard him.

_Flashback_

_Danny sat on the mattress, staring at the wall. So far he had been here for what seemed like two days and nothing had happened. They gave him a small loaf of bread, a small cup of soup and a little bit of water. He knew they were poisoning him in greatly increasing amounts. He could feel the small bit of an effect that it had on him before his ectoplasmically enhanced immune system flushed it out of him, usually in the form of sweat that seemed to be a bit thicker than normal. They were definitely upping the dosage, he was almost certain that last cup of water was almost half water; haft a cocktail of multiple different poisons. He didn't know what they were trying to do. As a halfa, most poisons had little effect the first time he was exposed to it and almost no effect at all any time after that. Same was true for most diseases._

_As he was pondering the possible reasons the GIW would have for basically doing nothing except building up his immunity to a whole different range of poisons, he was aware of something that sounded like an alarm going off. The room shook and there was a sound like an explosion just went off outside his door. Sound like fighting was going on outside just outside his door as screams and yells reached his ears along with the chopping sound of gunfire, both normal and the more electronic-like sound associated with energy-based weapons._

'What the hell is going on? Are other ghosts trying to escape or something? Or….maybe Sam and the others managed to find me and there trying to rescue me!'

_Danny grew excited at that last thought, jumping off the bed and trying to go ghost once again, only to be disheartened when it was still being blocked from him. His disappointment was broken when what looked like a green version of a blow torch appeared at the middle on the top edge of the door, then separating, and going in opposite direction down the door, cutting through the thick, reinforced, steel door like a hot knife through butter. When the two torches met at the bottom, the door fell away revealing the shadowed figure._

_The figured stepped out of the blinding light behind them revealing it to be none other than Sam._

_She had a panicked expression on her face as she quickly rushed forward, grabbing his wrist and nearly yanking him off his feet in her rush. He only had time get out a confused and surprised "Wha-"before she cut him off with "Come ON Danny, there coming, we don't have time for this, let's GO!" She said, practically dragging him out of his cell and out into a hallway, full of bullet holes, small crater with a small bit of smoke emanating from them along with unconscious GIW agents lining the sides of the wall. He frowned. All of the agents were not moving but, judging from their wounds and the blood that was pooled in several places, a good number them were not unconscious._

"_Sam wait. This is all wrong. Did you….?" He asked, unable to finish the question and suddenly suspicious. Sam was a vegetarian because she valued life. Sam was a war protestor because she placed special value on human life. Which meant that, even though she, along with Tucker, was one of the ones which encouraged him to go into the Fenton portal to fix it which ended up half killing him, Sam would never kill anyone._

_Sam gave him a pained look and replied in a low voice "There was no other way. It was either them, you, or me." Then she looked back up at him, a hint of steel entering into her voice "I made my choice. Part of the reason you're in here is me. If this is what it takes to get you out, then so be it. I did what I had to. And I won't lose a bit of sleep over it. Now come on, we were behind schedule as it is and now we are even more behind. We're gonna have to book it if we are gonna meet up with Tucker and from then on, your family." Her voice took on a strained edge somewhere in the middle and acquired a strange undertone at the end that made him stare at her for a moment before he nodded and gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile._

"_Let's go."_

_End Flashback_

Danny was shook out of his memories by someone placing a steaming hot cup of herbal tea right under his nose.

"Here, you look like you need that." A smooth voice said to his right. Danny looked up to see a black man with a bald head wearing a black trench coat, boots, fingerless gloves, a short black beard, and an eye patch over his left eye. What Danny noticed most was the fact that he moved with the practiced gate of a military man. A man that was confident that he could take you down with his bare hands if need be. Like a skilled hand-to-hand fighter. Like a lion stalking his prey. Like a GIW agent. Forcing the panic down that rose like a cobra, threatening to paralysis him, he said the first thing that came to mind.

"Who the hell are you?" For some reason the question amused the bald man to no end as he began laughing at the question. Danny fumed as the man continued laughing even as he sat down opposite of him in the booth. _'Just where the hell does this guy get off? Find some random teenager that looks close to tears and give him something to drink? Then when he asks him who he is, laugh and sit down in the booth with him? Who does this guy think he is?' _As the man continued laughing Danny got mad. If he took of his sunglasses he knew his eyes would be glowing green. For some reason, this just made him chuckle harder. He bawled up his fists and narrowed his eyes. This seemed to get the message across that whatever the black man found funny, he was not getting it and his patience was wearing thin.

Still chuckling, he began to speak "Sorry if I've offended you. It's just funny how quickly you go from looking like you're about to burst into tears to panic to trying to hide said panic with annoyance and then quickly advance from annoyance to anger. It's also interesting how you have avoided even getting your hands near that cup of herbal tea despite the fact that we both know that most poisons don't affect you and you would already be able to tell if it contained something that would be able to affect someone like you." He finished a smirk in his voice as well as his face. As soon as he started saying that last part of his last sentence, every single muscle in his body tensed up and he quickly glanced around, searching for an exit as well as any other threats. He found a back door easy but he did not see anyone that looked like they would be a threat as well so he decided to test his luck.

"They send only one agent to get me? I'm insulted. And confused. Usually the GIW style is overwhelming force. Do they really expect you to be able to take me alone or were you sent to fail?" He said giving him a self-confident smirk, folding his hands behind his head. The strange man made like he was going to start chuckling again but cut himself and instead just shook his head in amusement.

"Again, you hide your fear with self-confidence. Interesting. First of all, don't insult me. I'm not a part of those idiots group. Second of all, I'm here alone, so you can stop looking around for anyone else. Third, I'm not here to capture you, just to talk so you can relax. Fourth…"At this point he gave a grin. "If I wanted to capture you, I could do it alone and I wouldn't fail." He then copied Danny's movement of leaning back, although he did not fold his hands behind his head. Danny frowned, a bit confused but willing to give the guy a chance. After all, the GIW were smart, but they were not smart enough to deny who they were to people who asked. _'Besides, there's no way that I can lose to a single, unarmed guy who's missing an eye. Still, I should be careful. Who knows what tricks he has up his sleeves?'_

"You might not be with the GIW but I can tell you're with someone. What's your name anyway?" He asked in a carefully neutral tone while at the same time carefully moving his legs so that he could move at a moment's notice. At the same time he cautiously took a sip of the herbal tea. It was delicious and he relaxed slightly with the bald man giving him an approving look.

"You can call me Nick. As for who I'm with well, we really don't officially have a name yet so don't worry about that. I'm here to talk about you." The now named Nick finished, his face now betraying nothing.

"Me? What about me? I'm just a poor little half ghost, being hunted by a bunch of high-tech idiots for crimes I haven't committed. What's so interesting about me?" He asked sarcastically, lowering his voice after half ghost. They were in a public place after all and he didn't want to make people think he was crazy.

"What about you? Well let me see…Your full name is Daniel Jack Fenton. One day, a little bit after you turned thirteen your parents, Jack and Madeline Fenton created a portal to the realm of ghosts. Your only sister, Jasmine, wrote it off but you were convinced by Tucker Foley and Samantha Mason, your two best friends, that you would be able to fix it when your genius parents, could not." At this point he gave him an amused look before continuing. "You then put on a hazmat, the only smart thing you did in relation to attempting to repair the portal. While you were inside the portal, you discovered that somewhere along the lines of construction of the ghost portal, the on button ended up on the inside. In a moment of shining brilliance, you decided to press it. "His tone remained light hearted through the entire statement. Then he grew serious. "You should be dead. You should be beyond. Strike that you and everyone nearby when you turned it on should be dead." He finished dead serious.

"What? I know that I should be dead, but why my friends too?" He asked thoroughly confused. He was so confused that he failed to notice how suddenly, the two of them were the only people in the restaurant.

"Why? Because the presence of solid matter on the event horizon of an activating dimensional rift or portal should have destabilized the entire thing causing an explosion big enough at the very least to wipe Amity off the earth. That's why. A whole lot more people than just your friends should be dead." Said Nick, dead serious with a frown on his face.

Danny was shocked. A full minute went by before he could find his voice to speak again. "That many people? Really? That portal had that much power behind it?" _'No way….'_

Nick nodded. "It had enough power to punch a hole in the barriers that keep the dimensions from collapsing in on themselves. So yeah, I say that would take a substantial amount of power behind it. But there's no point in talking about how you nearly killed billions by accident. Bottom line, the chance of you surviving that was so small, there's not a number I can give you without it being dramatically too high."

Eyes as wide as saucers, Danny just nodded along. "Damn. Never knew just HOW dead I should be. Or just how many people should be dead along with me."

"Yeah, makes you think huh? But I didn't come here to scold you for something that happened years ago. Anyway, back to what I was saying, you survived, without the portal blowing up and came out of it with some pretty nifty powers too so good for you. Powers you then used to protect Amity from ghosts that came through the portal instead of just closing the portal, for some reason. You also dealt with robbers, fires and other such things. You also had multiple fights with Plasmius or Vlad Masters, who is also your senior in the use of these powers gifted by you both being what has been called halfa, as well as a Ring Master of a gothic circus and both average ghost hunters, including your parents, as well as the idiots that go by the name The Guys In White. You have fought off everything from ghost invasions to overgrown plants, even saving the town from being stuck in the Ghost Zone forever. You were a hero, despite what the people of Amity thought about it and the many times you have been framed." Nick finished, giving him a look that was a strange mixture of pride, appraisal, and challenge.

"Or the fact that many people seem to see ghosts as malicious, evil beings that exist only to cause pain. And, for the record, I did NOT purposely press the on button. My foot got caught on some wires and….I tripped and tried to catch myself and accidentally hit the on button on the way down." Nick bit his upper lip, trying to hold back a chuckle. Danny glared. "Shut up"

Nick smirked "I didn't say anything. Nothing at all."

Danny glared at him for a few more seconds then sighed. "Let me save your breath and finish your story about me." Nick nodded his consent. After all, his info on Danny had stopped there."Yes I did all that and a little more. Then…I got into a fight with one of the most powerful ghosts I have ever encountered. Dan. Took everything I had and he was just playing with me. If he had taken our fight seriously…I don't think I would be here to talk to you. After I managed to catch him by surprise and defeat him, I was dead on my feet. And I had the misfortune of the GIW managing to get their hands on some kind of sensor that can sense my exact location if I enter ghost form. And they managed to find me. And get me. I managed to escape with help some time later. Due to the…circumstances of my escape, I had to leave Amity and go on the run from the Idiots in White. So, here I am now, hiding in Jump City, California. There, we talked about me are we done now?"

Nick sighed. "Well, if you really don't wanna hear my offer, then it looks like I'll just be on my way then." Nick gave an overly dramatic sigh before he began to get up.

"Wait! Stop! Dude, what offer?" Danny asked. If this guy could get the GIW off his back, then maybe he was worth talking to. Nick sat back down.

"First thing is, I can't get the GIW off your back. I'm the head of a division that does not even officially exist. Being unofficial does have it perks but one of the downsides is that I can only interfere so much in other agencies and hiding you or anything like that would be crossing a very thin line that I have to walk daily." Nick explained calmly. Danny slumped in his seat.

"Then there is not much you can do for me is there? "Danny muttered in a dejected tone.

"Actually…There are some things that I can do for you." Nick said carefully.

"Like what?" Danny asked, just as carefully.

"Well for starters, I can give you a hand with that plan of yours. Become a hero, achieve fame so that the GIW can't touch you, and emulate your arch-enemy in that respect?" Nick stated, secretly enjoying the look of shock on Danny's face.

"Wha…how the hell do you know about that?" Danny nearly yelled at him. It was a little disturbing to find out that he could say a plan on top of an abandoned warehouse in a voice a little bit above a whisper with nobody around to hear and this guy knew about it

"Let's just say that you shouldn't make a habit out of talking to yourself and leave it at that. But that's beside the fact. What matters is that I'm willing to help you with it." Nick stated, calm as ever despite the fact that Danny just yelled in his face.

"Wait. Just what would you get out of this deal? You don't seem like the kind of person who'd do this out of the kindness of his heart?" Danny asked, skeptical.

Nick sighed."Look, one of interests my division takes is in metahumans. Mostly, we just try to make sure that there not using their powers to break the law or anything like that. Sometimes we try to detain the evil ones. Sometimes we do something very different."

"Like what?" Danny asked, growing nervous about the mention of "detaining evil metahumans".

"Relax; we would not be talking if I was after you. What we do different is that we see if we can't convince metahumans that it would be more worthwhile to be a hero and we help them on their way. Unfortunately, like I said before, what we can due for a metahuman is limited is if they are a target of another agency. So the usual process is not applicable to you, although, I don't think that you would like it anyway. But what we can do is give you some help finically, get you that hero uniform that you have been looking for all day today and help keep the white suited idiots in the dark and off your back till it's too late for them to do anything about it." Nick leaned back, watching his reaction.

"What would I owe you in return?" Asked Danny in a thoughtful tone

"Simple, you'd be an asset to us. If we have need of your particular talents we call you for a favor and expect you to answer. You become our responsibility." Answered Nick, poker face never faltering.

"No deal. I'm nobody's weapon, I've played that part once and nobody will ever have complete control over me again!" Danny yelled in his face, suddenly angry.

"Not a weapon and not a slave either. We will never enslave you against your will. We will ask for your assistance, that is all." Answered Nick, eye twitching at just how many times this teenager had the gall to yell in his face.

Danny gained a thoughtful look on his face. Before he had the chance to answer however Nick started talking again, an extremely cautious tone. "Before you answer, do you know what it means to be under our responsibility? It means that if you get arrested, I get called. It means that if you get arrested, I put you in prison. It means that if you ever stray from being a hero, I will have to personally lead a team of the best of the best trackers and _hunt you down. Do you understand that?_"

Danny winced at the emphasis put in those last few sentences but nodded his understanding. _'Man, this guy can be intimidating when he wants to be. He is certainly someone I want to keep as a friend. Guess, if I agree, just more reason to remain a hero. No problem'_

Danny gave Nick a hard look and nodded.

Nick smiled. "Great, let's get to work then."

End chapter….not really

After agreeing on a meeting place, Danny left wondering where all there other people in the restaurant had went.

Nick Fury smirked. "Guess this program has some potential after all."

Turning on the earwig he was wearing he said "All sniper, ground assault, helicopter, and specials forces units stand down. Looks like we don't have to take this one down."

A voice came in over the earwig. It said "Sir, should we deactivate the microscopic tracking and termination nanites?"

Nick replied. "Deactivate the ones left in the herbal tea that he didn't drink. There of no use to us. But the other ones are. If his ectoplasm doesn't disable them, then we should keep an ace in the hole against him. You saw how he was when he walked in. Nearly broke down because the spell of this place reminded him of what his old girlfriend used to drink. He's unstable. We need to have something to stop him in case he cracks."

**End Chapter (For real this time)**

**Man, this was a hard chapter to write**

**Next Chapter Danny gets some new threads and….**

**It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a destructive-restrained-prisoner-from-outer-space-that-wrecks-half-the-city!**

**Love the reviews**


	4. Chapter 4

**IMPORTANT VISIT MY PROFILE TO VOTE IN POLE**

**A little note I forgot to put in the last chapter. I do not own Nick Fury. Nick Fury and any of his associates are owned by Marvel, not by me.**

Chapter 4

"All Units, all units, there's a robbery in progress at the bank. Number of suspect's unknown, estimated between five to ten. All are heavily armed with automatic weapons. They have hostages. I repeat, they have hostages, do NOT suggest any attempts to retake at this time. SWAT team standing by." A cop said in a slightly panicked tone into the radio on his police cruiser. He was parked, along with several other cops, outside the entrance to a marble stone bank with pillars line the entrance and a rather large set of stairs out in front.

Up on a nearby rooftop, a figure cloaked in shadow smirked to himself. "Show time."

**Inside the bank that is being robbed. **

There were five robbers, who were near identical in that they all wore matching ski masks, grey shirt, leather jackets, blue jeans, black belts, and sneakers. They also had on backpacks, and two of them had duffle bags. And they all had automatic rifles. "What the hell is taking so long!?" One of the robbers with a duffle said impatiently, waving his gun around dramatically.

The bank clerk, whose day had started out good but had taken a turn for the worst when five guys in matching outfits walked in and pulled guns outta nowhere and demanded for them to open the vault. Easier said than done, the vault had more than one lock and more than one kind of lock on it. Long story short, it took a while to open. And the robbers were getting impatient.

None of them noticed the shadowed figure from before phase through the wall, before sticking on the wall and walking up it like it was the floor. Nobody noticed when he dropped down from the ceiling onto an unsuspecting robber, knocking him clean out. They did notice however when he hit the floor rather loudly. "Who the hell are you?" Does it matter? Kill him!" The robber's shouted to one another for a second then opened fire at the stranger. The stranger quickly darted to the left, running and then falling, sliding completely behind a nearby desk that was next to a pillar. The robbers continued shooting, unloading on the desk for a full five seconds, until they were all out and reloading.

"Did we get him?" One of them asked. "I dunno, check." Another said. "Dude, you check." The first one said."You check!" The second one countered. "You!" "No you!" "I'll check! Bunch of pansies. Why I decided to rob a bank with people who turn into chickens at the first sign of trouble, I'll never know." The third robber handed his duffle, full of the money that the bank kept out of the vault as well as the money that the civilians in the bank had even thought all that was chump change in comparison to what was inside the vault.

He trained his gun on desk, slowly stalking toward the desk. When he went to the side of the desk he looked behind it to find….nothing?

"Oomph!" He let out a grunt of pain as a gloved fist suddenly appeared buried in his gut from completely out of nowhere. He bent over in pain only for the cloaked figure to do a back flip, kicking him in the chin and sending him flying back, only to hit the back wall, knocked out.

"Where did he go?" "Where the hell did he go?"The three remaining robbers began to panic when the figure once again disappeared from sight, fruitlessly firing out another volley at where he had been. Thing were way off plan. Then one of them realized that they HAD a plan for this type of problem. Grabbing one of the civilians, a little girl, he put the gun to her head. "Come out, you freak! Come out with your hands on your head, _now_, or I spatter her brains across this room along with everyone else's, I swear to God!"

Slowly, the figure walked out from around a corner and into the light so that he could be clearly seen for the first time.

Grey boots with a green flame design covered his feet. Tucked into them was a pair dark grey pants with a matching green flame design held up by a light grey belt with a green skull and crossbones as the belt buckle. Tucked into that was a long sleeved black shirt with grey sides lined with green. Grey gloves were on his hands with white medical bandages wrapped around where the gloves met sleeves as well as crisscrossing across his arms with a little bit of cloth hanging off at his wrists. Covered by this was a dark grey cloak with a green trim and a black inside with green flames on the cloaks bottom edges as well as a hood shaped like an eagles head, held together by a golden, stylized O with a green gem in the middle. When he raised his head, the thugs could see he was wearing a pair of shaded goggles, hiding his eyes and had raven-black hair.

Suddenly, green energy came to life in his hands and shot out, knocking the guns out of the thug's hands, smoking. Racing forward, he engaged the robber holding the girl in hand to hand. The robber threw a few sloppy punches all of which the figure easily dodged the last one he grabbed the outstretched arm and threw the man over his shoulder. Racing forward he jumped off of the robber holding the duffle, knocking him down. Spinning on his hand, he threw his other leg out at the other robber, knocking him down as well. His hands lit up green again, not a split second later he shot out a shot of green slime, gluing the two thugs to the floor but not before one of them managed to reach into the duffle, doing something inside it with his hand.

"Who are you? The girl he stopped from being killed asked him, in a tone of awe.

The figure gave a warm smile to the child. "Me? I'm Orpheus."

He heard a scrambling of footsteps behind him. Orpheus turned to see the robber from before had scrambled to his feet and was running toward the back exit to the bank. For a split second, he wondered why the police were not covering all the possible ways in and out of the bank, before he started forward to chase after him, only to be stopped by a ticking sound. Turning around, he noticed that the ticking was coming from the other duffle bag. Opening it, his eyes widened to saucers when he found a bomb. A big bomb. A bomb that had thirty seconds left on the timer and going. A bomb that he had no idea how to defuse.

Panicking for a second, he calmed down as he thought on what he should do. "Everybody out!" He yelled to the civilians, trying to remain calm. "If you can, carry the robbers out with you!" Instantly they began complaining, yelling that they should be left to die. Sweat dropping at how quickly they went from scared to vengeful he yelled again "Just do it!" Still grumbling, some of the men picked up the unconscious robbers, Orpheus having to unstick the robbers from the floor.

As they were filing rather chaotically out of the building, Orpheus paced back and forth, wondering how to deal with the bomb before coming up with an idea. Wrapping the bomb back up in the duffle bag, he picked it up and ran to the vault door. Switching to intangibility he phased himself, bag and all, through the vault door and into the vault. Standing in the vault, he glanced around quickly, finding that all the money was in individual safety deposit boxes. "Perfect." He gave a grin that melted when the ticking sound sped up. Setting the duffle bag down, his hands glowed blue before he created a thick layer of ice around on the bag. Hands glowing green again, he made an even thicker glowing layer of green goo around it, over the ice. Turning intangible again, he just phased back through the vault door. Not a second later, a muffled BOOM was heard on the other side. Turning his head intangible, he stuck it through the vault door. There was goo everywhere and a few ice shards were stuck in it but the inside of the vault was otherwise unharmed. He reabsorbed both the goo and ice back into his body, leaving no trace that a bomb had gone off in the vault save the remains of the bomb itself and a few scratches and a hole or two on the walls made by the ice

Satisfied that his job here was done, he turned around, only to find the last robber long gone, the sound of retreating sirens indicating that the police were chasing him.

"Guess I'd better give them a hand. Man, this is alotta work for just one person." He gave a fake sigh of exhaustion, slumping his shoulders, before running off after the robber.

THE END IS NEAR! THE END IS HERE! IT IS…..A LINE BREAK!

Danny smiled to himself as he ran at what would be top speed for most. For him it was a jog. As he jumped from the roof he was on and onto the roof of another he remembered when he had gotten his new outfit.

_**Flashback**_

_Danny stared at the uniform that was on a dummy admiringly. "Damn, man you work fast. I just gave you my sketches yesterday and you already have it ready?"_

_Nick chuckled. "We had most of this stuff lying around already. The only thing that there was really to do was put it all together, size it to you, make some cosmetic changes, and modify it to work best in conjunction with your powers. We managed to make you fourteen complete copies."_

_Danny frowned. "What do you mean? I told you, I can build most of my parents stuff and they work with real people almost just as effectively as they do with ghosts. And why so many copies?"_

"_That may be, but I made sure there are some gadgets built in anyway. And you have that many copies in case one or two get damaged; you have plenty of others to wear while you send it to us for repairs or replacements."_

"_Gadgets that I won't use or need." Danny countered._

"_Better safe than sorry and besides, they won't get in the way if you don't use them, so no harm in having them and not using them." Nick replied_

"_Guess there's no harm as long as they don't get in the way. Might as well as show me what I'm stuck with." Danny sighed in defeat. Nick gave him a smug grin of triumph._

"_In general, the entire outfit is tearing and heat resistant. Don't rely off it too much, that just means it's harder to cut or tear and it takes more to burn it. No reason to test it, understand?" When Danny nodded, he continued. "Good. The entire thing is also bullet resistant, the cloak the most of all, but same deal, don't test it."_

_Nick walked up to the dummy wearing the outfit and picked up the boots. "The bottom of these boots have been treated and modified to be able to absorb high amounts of force and shock. So if, for some reason, you find yourself falling from a high place, it'll hurt the least to land with your feet hitting the floor. Trust me when I say, it'll still hurt though. You can also channel energy into them to stick to surfaces, good enough that you can walk on them as if you were on the ground." He set the boots down and grabbed the pants. "The pants…are nothing special except a few extra pockets." At the look Danny gave him, he got defensive. "What? There really is nothing special that we can do to the pants, except add in a few hard-to-see pockets. Anything we could add is a prototype right now." Danny frowned "Then why the hell did you pick them up? You could have just told me that and moved on." Nick looked sheepish for a second before clearing his throat and moving on. "Well, while there is nothing special about the pants." He ignored Danny's pointed glare. "The belt, however, has a flotation device built in as well as magnetic strips that can be activated to hold things to it and there are pouches that be attached the same way that come with it." Danny gave him an incredulous look. "Really man, a flotation device? You realize that not only am I a very good swimmer, but I can hold my breath for a very long time and I DON'T have to breath in my ghost form, right?"_

_Again, Nick looked rather sheepish. "The flotation device in the belt came with the magnetic strips. It was either that or nothing. It also monitors your vital signs so if you get knocked unconscious and you get dropped in water, it activates to stop you from drowning so don't just write off ok? It could save your life." Danny snorted but didn't protest. "Right, moving on. We built some discrete body armor into the shirt's torso to give some extra protection to your vital organs. The medical tape has been treated so you can bind wounds. The gloves though are something special. Channel some ectoplasmic energy into the gloves for me, please. Focus it on the finger tips." Somewhat perplexed by his request, Danny complied. Hands lighting up green, he touched the gloves, channeling some energy into them as requested. As soon as he started, the tips of the gloves fingers turned into claws. He was so surprised, that he lost his concentration and stopped channeling, the claws disappearing as a result. Nick grinned at the look of surprise on his face. "By channeling ecto energy into the tips, they change into claws. You can also channel energy into the portion of the glove on the top side of the fingers and create a pair of electrifying brass knuckles, or the underside to stick to surfaces. The cloak is special too. I remember how you stressed how hard it must be to figure out who you are so I made the hood of the cloak special. I managed to make it sort of like a switch in that you have to channel ecto energy into the brooch of the cloak to take it off. Same thing goes for the goggles, which can take pictures and video with sound and has a thermal vision mode, except that you have to channel it into the goggles to take them off."_

"_So, if I run out of energy, I can't take off the cloak and goggles?" Danny asked sarcastically. "Not exactly what I had in mind."_

"_There is another way to take them off, smartass, just more complicated. I'll explain it later. Right now, we need to get you in this thing, so you can get used to moving around in it."_

"_Right now?" Danny asked, looking around nervously._

"_Yeah, what other time would we do it?" Nick asked skeptically._

"_Is there anywhere I can change?" Danny asked._

"_We're in an abandoned warehouse, no." Nick said, flatly. "Why can't you change right here?"_

"_Well...You know…"Danny started, thoroughly embarrassed. Nick smirked at him. Secretly, he liked messing with the halfa like this. It was fun. And it was a kind of psychological test to see how stable Danny was. With Danny still stuttering out why he couldn't change in front of him, Nick decided to take pity on the teenager._

"_I guess I'll turn around. That good enough for you?" When Danny nodded, Nick turned, still muttering "Honestly, how childish."_

_In actuality, Danny wasn't that shy as to need Nick to turn around. Avert his eye maybe but not turn around. He just didn't want to answer questions about the rather large amount of scars that covered his torso, arms, and legs, courtesy of the GIW._

_**End Flashback**_

It had fit like a glove. After he put it on and did some acrobatic moves and a short spar with Nick, which revealed that Nick could kick his ass or at least in human form he could, he was used to moving in it good enough to fight. Then Nick gave him a police scanner, a shrinking crate to hold all his stuff in, a little money, a promise that he'd get in touch soon, and a "good luck" and he was gone. Not even five minutes later, it came over the scanner that there was a robbery in progress.

So here he was concentrating on the aura of the remaining robber, trying to track him so he could catch him. When Danny had first entered the city, he had felt nothing from his ghost sense. But on a hunch, he had concentrated on it while he had been waiting for the police to show up after he had stopped that girl from being raped the other day. Apparently he could sense people's auras. Auras, he had discovered, were like a person's spiritual fingerprint. Everyone had their own distinct aura that was completely unique to them. No two were completely alike, although there was a small chance that they may be similar. By concentrating, he could sense the auras of the people around him. And, after he walked by accident by the hospital, he learned the hard way that he could tell by a person's aura how close to death they were and that auras lingered for a random amount of time after death. If he studied a person's aura enough, he could find them at greater distances depending on how good he studied them. He was glad he took the time to study the auras of the robbers good enough so that he could find them if they escaped into the city as long as they were close enough to him.

'_Finally the cops forced him to abandon the car. I was getting bored just chasing the car.' _His instinct to chase the robber instead of letting the police handle him proved to be well founded as the robber just turned down an alleyway and, for some reason, the police kept going instead. _'Idiots' _He thought to himself as he prepared to shoot a ghost ray at the robber to knock him down, only to be interrupted by the sound of something slicing through the air.

Holding off on shooting the ray, he watched as some sort of boomerang hit the robber in the back with enough force to knock him on his stomach. Danny watched as a shadow of a teenager around his age appeared perched on the nearby roof. _'Man, this guy enjoys the theatrics even more than I do.' _When the teen jumped off the roof and into the light where Danny could see him without staring at the setting sun, he would revise his thought.

He had an athletic build, like a gymnast. He wore a costume that consisted of green tights with black steel-toed boots, a green short-sleeved shirt underneath a red armored vest with a yellow "R" over his left pectoral muscle, a yellow utility belt and a black cape that has a yellow interior. He had on a black and white domino mask with his black hair spiked up.

'_I stand corrected. He enjoys the theatrics WAY TOO MUCH. Seriously, if it was not for the big R on his chest, I would think his name is traffic light….wait, R? Is he…."_

His brief thinking was interrupted by the now scared shitless robber who had managed to get to his feet and pointed a shaking finger at the teen. "Wait... You! You're Robin!""This isn't your city! What the hell are you doing here?"

'_Holy Shit, Robin! The real Robin! Oh my God! Wait, if he's here, does that mean Batman's here too? What's he doing here in the first place?' _Privately, Danny had his own fan-boy moment. After all, Robin was one of the reasons that he thought he could be a hero at such an age in the first smirked at the terrified robber. "Just moved here. And for now on I work alone, protecting this city!"

'_Well, this will be a problem. I appreciate the help, boy wonder, but I can't have you taking the fame. Looks like I'm going to either move to another city, which is risky, or convince you to move on to another city.'_

The boy wonder made short work of the lone thug. He had to admire the skill and efficiency of the young hero. _'If pure skill was the only thing different in a hand-to-hand fight between me and him, he would win hands down, though I can't tell completely from such a short and one-sided fight. Good thing that if it came down to it, I'm faster, stronger, have better reflexes, and can take a lot more damage than he can.'_

His was just about to reveal himself to the unsuspecting hero when a green streak suddenly raced across the sky directly above them, screeching as it went by only to crash rather loudly somewhere a few blocks away. Robin glanced up, then immediately began tying up the criminal in front of him. Danny grinned. _'Looks I get to have a head start.'_

Immediately after that thought, he invisibly jumped over the pair and toward the where the strange object had crashed.

DEATHTOALLWHODONOTBELIEVEINT HEDOMINATINGPOWEROFTHELINEBR EAK!

When he arrived, he was painfully aware of the fact that Robin was not that far behind. Making sure he stayed invisible, he approached the smoking crater slowly.

'_What the hell is it?' _He asked himself, tempted to activate the thermal vision on his goggles to see through all the smoke and dust kicked up by impact, settling for concentrating on aura sensing first to figure out what the hell it was. What he found in the crater felt almost the same as a human aura. Activating his thermal vision to investigate further, he could just make out a humanoid figure before it jumped out of the smoke.

Deactivating his thermal vision, he jumped onto the side of a nearby building, using his boots to stick to it, and ran up the side and onto the roof to get a better view on what was going on, invisible the entire time.

The alien, for she could not be human and survive a crash like that unaided, looked remarkably like a human teenager. Except that she had orange skin and glowing green eyes. She had long red hair that reached her midback. She wore a strange set of what looked like alien armor. It consisted of dark blue high heels with a light blue bottom and trim that reached all the way up her thigh. She had on a matching dark blue miniskirt, held there by a light blue belt. She had on a tight blue shirt, with a dark blue top and shoulder guards. But the strangest thing was that she appeared to have on some sort cuffs that completely covered her forearms.

She started walking around, yelling in some foreign language at the rather large group of civilians that had gathered. _'Where the hell are the cops while all this is happening anyway?' _He asked himself, respect for the law enforcement of Jump City falling down a few dozen notches at how, in all the cops that are supposed to be in the city, none of them notice something green fall into the middle of the city. _'For that matter, why the hell aren't any of these people calling the cops anyway?'_

Then everything went to hell when one of the civilians decided that, while he wasn't going to inform law enforcement about an alien landing smack dab in the middle of the city, he was going to take a picture of the alien. Without turning off the flash. And with the camera's flash going off inches from the aliens face. And apparently, she does not like having her picture taken. At all.

**End Chapter**

**I originally planned on putting the entire Teen Titans Go! Episode in this chapter, but it started getting to long so I decided to cut it off here.**

**Anyone out there with any sort of drawing skill that can draw Danny wearing his costume? I have a mental image of what it looks like but until I see it in front of me it's hard to tell whether or not this is the costume for Danny. If you can, draw it, post it; send me a link or something.**

**Something else too. Due to a good number of unsigned reviews with the same name, I ask that if you are going to post an unsigned review, please change the name from guest to a unique name of your choosing. I don't mind unsigned reviews but please avoid posting too many of them under the same name.**

**REVIEW**


	5. Chapter 5

**Check out this picture ** #/d5q2g1v **drawn by jeanette9a**

**Thanks jeanette9a**

**Here's the next chapter.**

The flash apparently surprised the alien and enraged her so much she slammed the forearm cuffs against the ground so hard, she created a smaller crater and a small shockwave, shaking the ground and causing the building to shake, including the one Danny was on. _'Damn. Someone's PMSing hard!' _He thought as he braced himself on the building. He frowned when she proceeded to smash up the road more as well as hit cars and generally trash the street.

'_Something's not right here. Her legs are clearly just as strong if not stronger than her arms. So why is she only using those forearm cuffs to smash things?' _At that point she had tired and stopped for a second, only to continue, this time smashing a pillar that was holding up an outdoor restaurant thing where some of the people who had fled had taken sanctuary. As she smashed the pillar, he began to panic as it caused the floor of the restaurant to began to give way, putting the civilian on top in danger but he relaxed as he saw a familiar figure show up on the soon to be battlefield. _'Robin should be able to handle this. I'll stick around just in case though.' _He wasn't afraid by any means. He knew he would be able to beat her if he had too and, if the Boy-Wonder needed it, he knew he could save him and beat her. But there was something not right with the way the female alien was acting. Even when nobody was in range, she was smashing the sidewalk and anything in range with those cuffs. And she only attacked with them as well. _'Until I figure out what she's up to, I'll sit this one out unless he needs help.'_

The fight started out in Robin's favor. As he originally guessed, bird-boy proved to be too agile for the alien girl to hit. This was a very good thing, as one good hit from her with her super strength and he was done. He got a little nervous when she managed to land a hit and send Robin flying but he quickly got back up and didn't seem to be too hurt so he relaxed. He even cheered a little in his head when he got in a good hit with his Bo staff. However, she got right back up from the car she was smashed into. He brandished the staff at her only for it to suddenly fall to pieces. He glanced down shocked. She took the opportunity jump at him threatening to smash him into the ground. However, before he got the chance to raise a green shield to protect Robin, he was saved by the most random thing that could have saved him at that moment.

A green goat ram….thing came out of nowhere, jumping into the air and ramming the angry alien midair to Robin's left. The green goat then transformed from an animal into a kid? _'Wait, that's BeastBoy from the Doom Patrol! What's he doing here? And more importantly, how the hell did he just come outta nowhere like that? How the hell did I not notice a green ram charging in like that?' _Silently, he berated himself for not being more vigilant. BeastBoy was wearing his old black and purple Doom Patrol uniform, complete with gray gloves and purple sneakers with seemingly Velcro straps. Then, when BeastBoy opened his mouth to speak, and Danny focused on his hearing so he could listen in, saluting the entire time, he felt a little bit better.

"Ex-Doom Patrol member BeastBoy Sir! How can I help?" Then he realized who he was talking to. "Wowzers, your Robin, aren't you sir?"

Thoroughly creeped out by BeastBoy's rather clear fan boy worship he replied in a rather deceptively calm tone "Well, you can start by not calling me 'sir'.

As BeastBoy began to ramble on about how great an honor it was to meet him Robin cut him off "BeastBoy was it?" When he nodded, Robin pointed behind him to where the alien was picking up a bus. _'Again, how the hell do I miss that?' _He muttered to himself. Both Robin and BeastBoy dodged out the way rather easily but _once again somebody came out of the freakin blue _and catches the airborne bus, setting it down as gently as you can set something down that weighs as much as a bus. _'Ok, now I see why Sam called me clueless one. How do you miss somebody his size anyway?'_

The newcomer was rather large and big muscles could be seen underneath the dark grey hoodie and black pants with grey sneaker. From what skin could be seen from underneath the hoodie, he was black but our favorite young halfa was more concerned with the dull red glow coming from one side of his hidden face.

"YO! WHO'S HERE MESSIN UP MY NEIGHBORHOOD?!" He bellowed, although he didn't sound that angry.

Intimidated, Beastboy responded quickly, pointing in the direction of the seething alien, "She started it!"

The alien let out a growl. Raising her arms above her strength, she slammed them down on the street with all her strength. The earth shook a lot harder than it did before. As a result, the end portion of her cuffs came off with a clang, revealing that the alien had human-like hands as well. The alien glanced at her hands, looking satisfied with herself. _'That's it! She wasn't trying to hurt people. She just was trying to get those things off of her! And she's only attacking because we attacked her! Ok, now the thing to do would be calm her down, get them to back off, and figure out how to get those things off of her. Easy.'_

Then her hands lit up green in way that reminded him very eerily of the way his own did just before he shot a ghost ray.

'_Oh hell, just had to think it'd be easy.' _As predicted, green discs of energy began to shoot out of her hands at a fast rate. _'Time to intervene.'_

Jumping off the roof, he put up the most powerful, wide green shield that he could put up. It covered the entire street all the way up toward a little bit above his head.

The misfit hero's stopped running when the barrage suddenly stopped. Turning around, they found a figure, clad almost entirely in grey and green, holding up a green shield that covered the entire street up, withstanding the alien's brutal assault of energy discs.

'_Damn, those things sure have a kick to them. Still, not much compared to what Vlad has thrown at me before so I should be alright.' _He gave the motley crew a confident grin. They looked shocked speechless. _'Must be because of how awesome I look right now. Wait, why did she stop shooting…?' _"Duddde! Look OUT!" He just had time for a "Huh?" before something slammed into his weakened shield, going right through it and slamming into him, sending him flying.

"Ok, that one hurt." He growled, as he picked himself up. For some reason, the three other males present took that as meaning "Charge!" and complied. "No, wait!" he yelled as he ran after them. _'Hot headed idiots! They'll just make this harder than it has to be.' _He was tempted to just freeze them all the way over, but before he could even try a large black bird made out of some sort of black energy emerged from the ground and spread its wings and let out a screech.

"Didn't see that one coming." Danny said under his breath, the others giving him weird looks when they heard it.

"Maybe fighting isn't the answer." A calm, monotone, feminine voice said from behind them. _'Alright, that's IT! Starting now, I am maintaining a full awareness around myself. I'm mean really, how did the GIW not catch me if I'm this easy to sneak up on?'_

She was wearing a blue cloak and matching blue ruffled ankle-boots with black/gray soles, with a black/blue leotard-like long-sleeved shirt with cuffs at her wrists of the same blue of her cloak. On her cloak, she has a circular black/red jewel set in a gold plate that holds it together. Around her waist she was wearing a red and gold belt with the same jewels around it and no pants. The hood was up, but thanks to his enhanced sight, he could see that she had pale grayish skin and on her forehead, she had a red and black gemstone on her ajna chakra. But what stood out the most in his eyes was the fact that she had violet hair and purple eyes. Purple eyes that looked eerily like the eyes that once belong to another gothic girl he once knew. Add in the pale skin and hair, and she could be her sister.

It was a good thing he had the cloak drawn about his body. It made it difficult for others to tell that his knees had grown weak and were buckling. And the goggles hide his eyes widening in shock. The hood was good with hiding how pale his skin had suddenly become.

As he was silently freaking out, Robin made an order to stand down.

"Who the hell made you the boss?" The big man in the hoodie protested. Robin held his hand's up appealingly as he backed up toward the alien. "Just let me try something, ok?"

He started walking toward the kneeling alien, whose hands were smoking still from attacking.

He recovered just enough to notice and comment on it. "Wouldn't do that if I were you." Danny said as he noticed that the alien panting was calming down and she was getting ready to stand.

When Robin approached, she leaped up, pointing her glowing hands at him like a cannon and started shouting at him in the same foreign language she had before. Danny smirked. "Told ya."

Robin ignored him. Instead, he pulled out a small lock picking kit. Holding it out he said in a calming voice" Calm down. See it's alright. I'm not gonna hurt you." Slowly the green glow surrounding her hands disappeared and the green glow in her eyes died down to reveal eyes that looked scarily similar to his own when he got angry, used his powers, or was in ghost form.

Satisfied that she was calm enough for him to continue, he grabbed her cuffs and began to work on them. _'Someone's full of themselves. There's no way he can pick the lock to cuffs from outer space…right?' _Not thirty seconds later, the cuffs dropped to the ground. _'How the hell did Batman train this guy to pick the locks of forearm cuffs from outer space!?' _Before he had time to ask, his strange day got even stranger when the female alien did one of the strangest things she could have done at that moment. She grabbed the back of Robin's head and planted what seemed like a very hot kiss right on the boy-wonder's lips.

Stunned, he did nothing to stop her from pushing him to the ground. In clear, if accented, English the alien spoke, surprising everyone "If you wish not to be destroyed, you will leave me ALONE!" Having said that, she flew straight into the air and out of sight.

"Well THAT was unexpected." Danny said, trying to break the tension. Instead, he just got a few weird looks.

"Soooo, My name is Beastboy. Who are you?" Cue weirder looks, this time at Beastboy.

"Well, whoever she was, she certainly made an impression." The big guy said glancing around at the now trashed block.

Danny snickered. "On what the city or him?" A smirk could be seen under the big guy's hood as he responded "Both. More him than the city though."

"I think WE made a pretty good impression. Space-girl's gone, the city saved. Mission accomplished, right sir?"

Robin turned to him, still a distracted look on his face. "Seriously, stop calling me that. It's more than a little creepy, dude."

"You…you…YOU CALLED ME DUDE!" Beastboy said, tears of joy coming from his eyes.

Robin face palmed. "Right…looks like we're done here. Appreciate the help though."

"You plan on tracking her down, right?" Danny asked, curious. After all, if what he knew about Batman was right, then that's what Batman would do. And apprentices more often than not take after their masters.

Robin turned to him, giving him a questioning glance. He could feel himself being judged by his stare. He must have passed because Robin then nodded. "Yeah, I have to know if she's a threat. And if she is, then I have to stop her."

"More like find out if she'll give him another kiss." The guy in the hoodie muttered, earning a laugh from Beastboy and making it harder for Danny to keep a straight face.

"Guess I'm coming with you then." He was about to protest but he cut him off. "Look, if you plan on setting down in this city, then that means you got to get over yourself. You're not going to be the only hero in the city. I can't speak for them" At this he motioned to Beastboy, the dude in the hoodie, and the girl in the cloak. "But I for one plan on settling down here myself. That mean I'm obligated to find out if she's a threat too. If we both separately go after her, we run the risk of getting in each other way. The best way to do this is to work together, like it or not. Got it?"

Robin stared at him. "Ok, fine but just this once. Then we separate and we stay out of each other way, got it?" Danny nodded.

"Glad you see things my way. My name is Orpheus. Yours?"

Robin smirked at him. "You should know. After all, that robber back there said it loud enough for you to hear from that rooftop."

'_He knew I was there? Touché Robin, touché.'_

"Hey guys, wait up!" Beastboy ran up to them. "Did you guys need-"

That was as far as he got before being interrupted "Sorry Beastboy. One temporary partner is more than enough. I'm not looking for a team so soon after going solo. Besides, you don't look like the type that would be good at this kind of investigative hero work."

Orpheus turned to look at his temporary partner. "Come on man, give the guy a chance. We're going to need some serious muscle anyway if we end up taking on alien-chick and this guy could be what we need. Give him a chance."

"Let me think about for a second." He replied. While he was thinking about that, Beastboy offered to get a pizza with the girl in the blue cloak and the guy in the hoodie. The girl merely said "I shouldn't" and kept walking. Disappointed, the changeling turned to the guy in the hoodie. He began to rant on and on about how cool it'd be to have someone to hang out with. He apparently got on his nerves.

Throwing his hood back he yelled "THERE, TAKE A GOOD LOOK! I HAD AN ACCIDENT AND NOW I'M A MONSTER ALRIGHT? I'M A CYBORG, HAPPY!?"

Beastboy just stared at the half metal man in shock. Then"Duuude! That's sooo cool! You're like Robot man 2.0." Beastboy gawked over Cyborg's metallic body in awe.

Somewhat creeped out by the small green kid's admiration, he just muttered "You're a strange little dude, you know that?

Beastboy just smiled. "You called me dude."

Robin glanced at Orpheus skeptically "You really want to work with someone like this?"

"Now not so much." He replied.

Before he said anything further, he was aware of the fact that the sun was being blotted out.

Looking up, he saw a rather large alien ship flying rather low over the city. It flew over until it was over the bay, then a part of it dropped off.

"Looks like space girl has friends." Cyborg said. "Or enemies."Robin added, looking serious.

"Or they are completely unrelated to her." Orpheus interjected. Cyborg and Robin looked at him skeptically. "What? It's completely possible."

That theory was blown to hell when a hologram emerged from the top of the thing and what looked a lot like a teenage mutant ninja turtle, minus the ninja gear and turtle shell, and adding in red eyes, and some fins on their arms, legs, and some hornlike things on his head.

"People of Earth! We come to your planet to hunt an escaped prisoner. An extremely dangerous prisoner. Do not interfere and we will leave your city with minimal damage. But, if you assist her, your destruction will be _absolute_."

After that, the transmission cut off. And then the ship unloaded. "That's a BIG ship." Cyborg commented. "Those are some scary aliens." Beastboy said, giving a shiver. "Really? Because to me they look like teenage mutant ninja turtles without the shells, or ninja gear." Orpheus replied, looking at Beastboy.

Seeing that the determined look on Robin's face, the still not named girl in the cloak said "They told us not to interfere "She directed that last part at Robin, who, if his face was any indication, ignored her. "You're still going after her, aren't you?" Cyborg said, smirking.

Robin nodded. Beastboy said, sounding rather excited" Dude, can we come too?"

Robin, doing a completely one-eighty from his previous attitude, replied "I guess I could team up, just this once. Come on, we got to hurry if we're going to get to her before they do."

Robin started to rush off, with Beastboy and Cyborg following. Orpheus started after them, but stopped when he noticed that the girl was remaining behind. "Hey!" He called out to her. She looked up. "You coming?" She looked down at the ground, seeming ashamed. He was aware that the rest of the team had stopped and was watching them, silently.

"I'm not the hero type. Trust me, if you knew what I really was, you wouldn't want me around." She said, dejectedly.

"You took the time to figure out why that alien-girl was smashing things and then helped out when you figured. You _are _the hero type, even if you don't realize it. And the fact that you figured it out, shows you're smarter than all those knuckleheads over there. That's all I need to know." He told her, placing a hand on her shoulder midway. She gave a small smile and he gave a full blown grin in response. "Never did get your name though."

"It's Raven." She replied, looking away. He gave her another smile. "Well Raven, shall we then?" She nodded and began to walk forward. "Besides, if you knew what I was, you either wouldn't want me around either, or you'd hunt me down to the ends of the earth to kill me." He muttered under his breath as she was walking away from him, thinking she wouldn't be able to hear him. He didn't notice the sudden pause in her step, the hitch in her breath, or the glance she sent his way, too busy staring at the alien tower that was still on that island in the middle of the bay.

**THISISYOURCAPTAINSPEAKINGWEA REEXPERIENCINGASLIGHT LINEBREAK**

"Ok so, how do we find space girl?" Beastboy asked, completely lost.

"Dude, how do we know that she even still inside the city?" Cyborg asked. Orpheus frowned, closing his eyes to concentrate as Raven said "She's close." At the many looks now being sent her way, she looked away and added in shyly "I can sense things."

"Dude, I can get her scent."Beastboy exclaimed, turning into a bloodhound and started sniffing around.

"I can see what I can get on my inbuilt sensors. I might be able to hear her heartbeat with my sonic analyzer."Cyborg added the metal that made up one of his arms shifting around to turn into sensors.

Orpheus let out an exaggerated yawn that got everybody's attention. "If we're ready to move, she's in that direction." He said, lazily pointing down a nearby street.

"How do you know that?" Cyborg asked, accidentally pointing his sensors at Orpheus then glancing down at them, startled at what his sensors said about the gray clothed hero. _'His core temperature is reading several times lower than what it should be as a normal human. His heartbeat is a lot faster than it should be too but he's not breathing near enough to keep up with it. If anything, his breathing is lower than it should be for normal humans. All his other vitals are off too and I'm picking up a strange energy signature. It's very faint, shows up better when he uses his powers, and seems like it's….suppressed. And otherworldly Now that I'm focused on it, I'm getting similar energy readings off of that Raven chick. Just what are they?' _He was interrupted from his thoughts by Orpheus snapping his fingers in front of his face. Giving Cyborg a look that said we need to talk later, he said "You ok man?" Giving Orpheus a look that said yes we do, he replied "Yeah I'm good. How do you know what direction she's in anyway?"

'_From what I can tell, Cyborg's sensors are based out of that arm, with the most information gleaned from whatever he's pointing it at. What did he sense about Orpheus that made him pause like that?' _Robin thought, vowing to try to find out more about this "Orpheus".

The grey-cloaked hero smirked at the attempt to glean more info about him. "I can sense things too." He was dimly aware of Raven shooting him a curious glance.

'_He can sense things too? Can he sense…? No. He wouldn't still be here if he could sense that about me. He does have strange emotions though. There are there, they just feel muted or dead or something. And why did Cyborg seem so weirded out when he pointed his sensors at him? What did he mean by people either stay away from him or hunt him? Do demon hunters come after him or something?' _Raven thought, curiosity starting to overwhelm apprehension at getting too close to anyone.

'_Duuuude! Why isn't anyone talking? Aren't we supposed to be finding that alien chick now that Orpheus told us where she is? Man that dude feels strange. Like I wanna go to him and get the hell away from him at the same time. Strange.' _Beastboy thought, hoping the awkward silence would end.

'_I have to be careful. I don't want to play the guessing game and guess how any of these people would do if they find out that I'm half ghost. I don't think Raven would mind too much though. From the sound of it, she's something most people don't like too. But I do know that once they hear the long list of crimes I've been accused of committing that would make a career criminal jealous, all bets are off. I'm almost certain that Robin would turn me in for sure. But first I have to break this awkward silence, find this alien and get this whole mess sorted out then go from there.' _Orpheus thought.

"Ok, if we're still going to, let go find that space girl and find out just what the hell's going on." He suggested, trying to break them away from the thoughts that were most likely about the mystery they knew as Orpheus.

Robin nodded, filing away what he was thinking away for future examination."He's right. Let's go!"

**YOU SHALL NOT PASS THIS LINEBREAK I COMMAND YOU TO JUMP OVER IT!**

After a small walk down the street ("Really Robin, you can't find her and yet she's down the street in the theater with a big freaking glowing hole in the side of it?" "Shut up.") The group of four guys and one girl came upon the super-strong alien….chowing down on popcorn, candy with the wrapper still on, and guzzling down soda. Apparently, she didn't notice or care about them behind her until Beastboy decided to speak. "Ya know, those taste a lot better with the wrapper."

**End Chapter**


	6. Chapter 6

**MAKE SURE TO VOTE AT POLL IF YOU HAVE NOT DONE SO ALREADY IT IS ON MY PROFILE**

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**Here's Chapter 6**

Dropping the popcorn bag she was holding and wiping off her mouth, she turned around, bright green energy already around her hands, letting a growl.

Alarmed, Robin and everyone else stepped back as the boy wonder attempted to calm her down. "Relax, we're friends, remember?"

"Friends? Why? For what purpose did you free me?" She growled out, the glow in her hands getting brighter.

"Just trying to be nice." Orpheus replied, meeting her glowing stare with his own hidden underneath his goggles. Underneath his cloak, his hands glowed green as well, ready to throw up a shield or launch ghost rays at the threatening alien in front of him.

"_Nice? _We do not have this word on my planet. The closest is ruta. _Weak!" _She exclaimed, stalking forward even more, causing the group to back up even more.

Getting angry, Cyborg exclaimed "Well around here, nice means nice. And if you want us to keep being nice, you'd better tell us why you were taken prisoner _or else_."

As quick as flipping a switch, her threatening stance faded away as her eyes and hands stopped glowing. She went from looking like she was going to trash another city block to looking like she needed a shoulder to cry on.

"Not prisoner." She said softly. "I am prize. The gordanians sent me to go to the citadel, to make me live out the rest of my days as their servent."

Sad for her fate and a little confused Robin asked. "And the citadel is….?"

She fixed him with a look. "Not nice." She answered flatly.

'_Sounds like some sort of outer space slave trade. _Thought everyone in the group minus alien girl.

"Then that settles it. You're not going. Not if _I_ have anything to say about it!" Robin exclaimed, putting his palm in his fist as he did so and walking up to the alien girl.

"Um, don't you mean we?" Beastboy asked

"No, you mean us." Orpheus corrected

It was at that exact moment that the wall exploded.

Shrapnel flew everywhere, cutting his cheek. The group was blown back. As the gordanians went through the hole in the wall one of them shouted "THERE! There she is! Get the prisoner!"

Taking a running start, he jumped up into air, landing a kick on the chest of the nearest gordanian, knocking him and propelling himself farther into the air with a back flip.

The female alien quickly took to the air and began to shoot down discs as Robin pulled a Bo staff from outta nowhere and engaged the gordanians close range. Beastboy turned into a rhino and proceeded to run straight through the middle of the group. Cyborg got in close and started to send gordanians flying with powerful punches while Raven, muttering something under her breath, raised a hand surrounded with black energy. At the same time, a nearby counter from the theater rose up, encased with black energy and suddenly launched itself at one of the gordanians, shattering on impact. _'That was telekinesis! She must be good at it, if she's able to pick up something that large with no effort, throw it that fast with that kind of force behind it, and direct the flight path, all in that short span of time. I wonder if she can help me master my own….' _Orpheus was broken out of his thoughts by a gordanian who thought it was a good idea to shoot him in the back with a blue ball of energy from his sphere, sending him flying and hitting the wall of a nearby building against his back. Picking himself up and ignoring the pain shooting through his back, he let out a growl as he charged up his hands with green energy, then let out a flurry of ghost rays, sending the gordanian that hit him and a few others flying.

The gordanians were apparently not very happy about that and they responded with sending a volley of energy blasts at him and Cyborg, who was wrestling with one of the nearby aliens. Putting up a glowing green shield, he smirked as the energy blasts hit the shield uselessly, although a lot hit the ground in front of it, kicking up smoke as it did so. He put down the shield only do a back flip when his instincts screamed at him to move, barely dodging an energy blast along with several others in a second volley. Cyborg, who had just punched the gordanian, just turned around to meet the volley head on, kicking up more smoke.

'_Oh, hell no!' _Orpheus though, creating two fan shaped shield then moving them together, creating a strong breeze that pushed away the smoke. When the smoke cleared, it revealed that Cyborg was in one piece, kneeling in a crater created by the blasts. But his hoodie and pants had been reduced to rags, revealing a torso composed of metal plates and arms of metallic blue circuits. More blasts began to shoot his way and Cyborg put his arms up to protect himself, only to be picked up a green pterodactyl and carried a ways until he was dropped near the ground at the edge of the still active battlefield.

Orpheus turned around to find that the gordanians had grouped up together and were charging across the ground toward him. Quickly, Orpheus put his hands together like he was praying, and then turned them sideways and to the right. In a slicing motion, he moved them quickly from the right to the left, releasing ectoplasmic green energy as he did, creating a green crescent shaped wave of energy that traveled quickly through the air and met the gordanians head on, and knocking them back. Orpheus grinned at the result as Raven used her magic to pick up a street lamp, using it as a bat and knocking the gordanians that were flying out of the air, causing the rest of the gordanian to begin retreating. He had created that move that he had just used a few months back when he was trying to create more creative ways to defend, use or attack when using his ectoplasmic energy other than just ghost rays, ecto discs, shields, ghost goo, and eye beams (though he could only use the last one in ghost form). And he had gotten the idea for the move he just used that he called ghost fang. It could be used horizontally, vertically, diagonally, with one hand for half power, hands crossed to form an X, hand shifted like he was going to slap somebody for a slower yet wider wave that acted more like a slow moving non translucent shield. The regular attack itself took enough power equivalent to a little over six ghost rays, with the variants all falling either below, at, or a little above that amount.

The gordanians seemed to realize that, while nowhere near being out numbered, they were greatly outclassed and began to retreat, flying up and back toward their ship, shooting blue energy blasts back at them as if to stop from following, despite the fact that only three members of the team (if he removed his self imposed no ghost form ban, that number changed to four) were capable of following.

Cyborg, after ensuring that none of the aliens had stayed behind to ambush, immediately looked down at his ruined suit. "Aw man, they ruined my suit." He complained as he ripped off the remaining now useless rags and disposed of them into a nearby trashcan.

"Don't sweat dude, you look WAY cooler without it!" Beastboy remarked as he looked over Cyborg's now exposed metallic body. Cyborg gave him a scathing look. "Like I'm gonna take fashion advice from a green dude in a goofy mask."

"Goofy?"Beastboy looked like Cyborg had just told him that his puppy was just hit by a car and slowly died as a result. "But….My mask is cool…..Right? Cyborg? Raven? Orpheus?" Beastboy said, turning to each person as he said their name. Cyborg shook his head, Raven said "No" and looked away and Orpheus just shook his head sadly and said "Sorry man, it doesn't."

"But what about my secret identity?" Beastboy pleaded, looking desperate for an excuse to keep his mask.

"What secret identity? You're green." Raven asked, giving him a look that questioned the intelligence of the green changeling.

'_And your pale grey.' _Orpheus thought and almost said but decided against it when he remembered her earlier comment that suggested that she didn't think too highly on whatever it was that gave her a unique appearance and most likely her powers as well. Instead he said "Look, it doesn't matter what other people think about your mask if you like it. If you want to, wear it. If you don't want to, don't. But either way, you're green so it doesn't give you a secret identity. And unfortunately, it does look a little goofy to me"

Beastboy face turned into one deep in thought. On one hand, he had worn his mask for a long time during his career as a hero. On the other hand he could still remember getting this mask the day he joined the Doom Patrol. He made his decision.

Beastboy had just taken off his mask and pocketed it when the alien's structure on the island in the bay turned on again. The newly identified Lord Trogdar growled over the hologram before yelling out "Fools. Pathetic fools. We were content to recapture our lost prisoner and leave, something that would have caused only minimal amount damage. Well, minimal in comparison the amount that you have earned now. For interfering in a way that damages our efforts in recapturing our lost prisoner, you have earned obliteration. Prepare yourselves for complete and utter destruction."

As he finished that last sentence, the metal plates that made up the outside of the shift around to reveal a VERY large cannon.

"This is all your fault!" Robin declared, pointing his finger at the orange alien, who held up her arms in her defense and responded rather angrily "My fault?! You are the one that insisted on the being nice!"

This marked the start of a shouting match between the two, one between Beastboy and Cyborg starting soon after.

Orpheus face palmed in frustration, muttering under his breath "This doesn't help at all."

"It doesn't. If anything, there just guaranteeing that we all die." Raven replied, looking at him. He glanced at her. He could tell that she was seconds away from shouting herself. _'Just like her.' _He thought. _'Just like Sam.'_

_**Flashback**_

_Danny was running down the hallway, Sam right beside him. They had been running for a while now and even with his enhanced stamina he was beginning to breathe hard. He didn't understand how Sam was still able to move much less show absolutely no sign of exhaustion. A while back, they did a test to see where his stamina was in comparison to others in human form. They discovered that he could far outrun either of the two of them easily. They managed to trick Dash into participating and discovered that, even after out running Tucker and Sam individually, he was still able to outlast Dash too. A couple days later after he was fully rested up they put him on a treadmill and timed him on how long he could run at a certain speed. From that they estimated that his endurance was that of a little above an Olympian level athlete at the age of peak physical condition (Or at least that was where it was at before training). That reason alone made him wonder just how Sam was keeping up. She only exercised the bare minimum needed to keep a thin appearance and sometimes not even that. She would only have a few days to train to catch up and that was nowhere near the amount of time that would be needed to even approach his level, much less surpass it like she was during now. But she insisted that there wasn't time for anything except a dead sprint in the direct that she said we would find Tucker in, creating a diversion._

_He learned that the plan was for his parents, in the Fenton jet, to stay just outside of range, while Jazz made an assault from the air, randomly blowing up buildings in a pattern that would slowly lead to her blowing up the building that maintained the anti-ghost field that kept him from using his ghost powers, dropping off Sam and Tucker in the process. Tucker, in a modified rebuilt Fenton Battle Suit would make a like he was trying to find Danny and draw their fire off away from where they knew where he was actually being held. While Tucker drew fire, Sam would sneak to where he was. When she found his cell, she would radio in for Jazz to blow the building that maintained the anti-ghost field next while Sam got him out. Once he was out, he and her would make their way to Tucker. By the time that they got to Tucker, Jazz should have blown the field. Tucker would then set the Fenton Battle Suit to a new autopilot function specifically designed for this purpose that would set it to attack anything that was moving that didn't have his ectoplasmic signature or was near it. He would then go ghost and get Sam and Tucker to the Specter speeder or the jet if he could. If he couldn't his parents would fly in and pick up everyone from the Specter Speeder. If he could he would then go back and get Jazz, with her setting the Specter Speeder on a collision course to the part of the facility that housed aerial transportation that could keep up with a jet as well as activating the locator in the Speeder, causing the Battle Suit to move in to it and attack that part of the facility as well. If he couldn't, Jazz would get picked up by his parents, with the same result happening. When everybody was on the jet, his parents would start on a preprogrammed automated flight plan that would take them all the way around the world to lose pursuers and would end with the jet changing into a sub and hiding underneath the ice at the north pole, during which a medical team, paid off by his parents, would attend to any wounds that anybody had, although he was under the impression that they were their mostly for him and Sam as she was the only one not protected by anything and he was possibly tortured and in bad shape to begin with._

_The whole plan hinged on everybody doing their part and surviving. If Tucker didn't distract them, Sam couldn't get to him. If Jazz couldn't blow the field, he couldn't get anybody out to the jet. And if his parents were found, they could get anybody out either as the jet wasn't designed for combat, only to hold the capabilities of a hospital and speed._

_Which was why it was so bad that as soon as we got outside, the first thing that either of us saw was the Specter Speeder. Except it wasn't in the air. It was on the ground, crashed, with the inside on fire._

"_NO!" Danny yelled, trying to make for the speeder only to be restrained by Sam's arms. He buckled and kicked, trying to break free. It was in vane as Sam's grip didn't falter. 'Where the HELL did she get this strong? I was stronger than her even before the accident and only got a lot stronger after! And why doesn't she seem sad that Jazz is probably dead? Jazz was her friend too! There is something here that I'm not getting.'_

"_Come on Danny! There's nothing that we can do for her now! The only thing we can do now is find Tucker and have you get us out of here!" Sam pleaded, though her voice sounded strangely unemotional._

_He tried to turn ghost again. Powered by desperation, he managed to make the white ring appear around his waist. But it didn't move and it disappeared after a split second. He tried again, but it didn't reappear. Concentrating on it as he was, he didn't hear Sam whispering into the watch on her wrist._

_End Flashback_

"SHUT UP!" Raven yelled, getting the attention of everybody present and getting them all to stop shouting and look at her.

"Uh hi" She said shyly in answer to their stares, looking away. Orpheus sighed.

"Look, anybody notice something? Or rather, anybody notice something that isn't there to be noticed?" Orpheus asked in faux-patience voice like he was talking to children.

Beastboy decided to take a chance in answering. "Uh, they haven't blown us to bits yet?"

"You're right Beastboy. They haven't blown us to bits yet. Which means that, for whatever the reason, they _can't _blow us to bits. Or, at least, not yet. Which gives us a chance to _do something about it instead assigning blame to something that hasn't happened yet_!" Orpheus said, yelling at the end.

Everybody was silent for a moment. Then "He's right. It's not over yet. If we can get on that ship and disable that cannon, we might have a chance." Robin said pounding fist into his palm.

"Problem is getting up there. Beastboy you wouldn't happen to be able to turn into anything that would be able to carry us all up there would you?" Cyborg asked, turning to the Ex-Doom Patrol member.

Before he could answer "No." he was beaten to it by Raven. "Actually….I have a way that we could all get up there. You might not like it though."

**I HAVE RUN OUT OF CREATIVE IDEAS FOR LINBREAKS(ANYBODYHAVE ANY?)**

Raven's teleporting was an interesting experience to say the least. She warned them that they were best served closing their eyes. She then asked if anybody was claustrophobic. When everybody responded "No" (After Robin clarified what claustrophobic meant to Beastboy and the alien) she nodded and told everybody to get close to her. After a joke from Beastboy about how it was "too soon" and they had "just met" and that "had never done it with more than one other person at once" and that he "wouldn't be ok with them watching", which resulted in Raven responding that "too soon will never happen and that "just met and I already want to get away from you and take a shower from being in your presence too long" and that "he had never done it before at all except with bitches, in dog form" and that she "thought he would be one of the ones watching other people on film doing it". This resulted in everybody staring at Raven in shock. Before Beastboy could respond in kind, Robin regained his senses and reminded them of the cannon that could fire any second in the sky and asked Raven to hurry with whatever it was that she was going to do.

After taking a second to regain her control (which happened to get shot to hell by the previous conversation, showcased by her red cheeks) she began to chant under her breath under her breath the words from before, only this time his proximity to her allowed her to hear her without enhancing his hearing. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos."

After she said that she opened her now glowing white eyes, black energy came out of her body, enveloping her and then spreading out, quick enveloping the rest of him and everyone else. The last thing he saw before his head was enveloped was the spaceship, hung in the sky with a large cannon coming off it.

It felt very different from his own horribly uncontrolled teleporting. His felt like he was sucked into a straw and blown out the other end. _'I wonder if she'll help me with my teleporting as well as my telekinesis. Probably not. After all, we just met and I wouldn't explain the inner workings of my powers to any stranger, no matter how nice they were.'_

Teleporting with her was like somebody put a heavy warm blanket over every part of his body. A blanket that felt very comfortingly warm. Like a hug. But it also felt smooth, like marble but it was also oily but completely dry. It was a very interesting and hard to describe sensation.

His sight was returned when he felt and then saw Raven's black energy receding from him and the others and going back into her body. He was rewarded with the sight of the rest of their misfit team, minus Raven, stumbling around unused to teleportation

Beastboy was holding his head as he said "Man that black energy stuff is WAY creepy." Orpheus face palmed at Beastboy's expression when he realized that Raven had been looking at him the entire time. "Uh, I mean it's cool!" Beastboy said, giving her a double thumbs up, panicking slightly when her expression didn't change.

"We need to find the control room."Robin stated looking around.

"I am familiar with Trogdar's ship, somewhat. I believe that I can lead you toward the control room." The still not named female alien stated

"Somewhat? Believe?" Cyborg said skeptically.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Do you have a better guide stashed away somewhere? No? Then she's our best chance at finding it." Robin retorted, defending the alien.

"Oh, someone's a little touchy on that subject. But anyways, I might not have a guide but if we find a computer terminal, I could try to hack their system and get a ship layout. I could also wreck other sorts of havoc for them, like disabling their alarms. Get a number on how many gordanians we will be facing so we can plan accordingly and possibly access to any security cameras. Maybe even disable their cannon remotely, at least for a short time." Cyborg explained, trying to keep calm at the skeptical looks being thrown his way.

"How can you hack into the system of an unfamiliar alien races computer system? Orpheus asked

Cyborg smirked. "Same way Robin can pick the lock on alien forearm cuffs."

"Let's just try to find the control room first." Robin said, starting forward.

Everyone starting forward after him, except Raven, who was looking at the ground dejectedly for the second time that day. And yet again, Orpheus noticed. But this time Cyborg noticed too.

"Hey. You coming?" Cyborg asked, looking slightly concerned.

"You heard the kid. I don't exactly fit in." Raven replied, looking away.

Orpheus rolled his eyes. He didn't know why exactly he was trying so hard to make sure Raven went with them willingly. _'Is it because she reminds me of a depressed Sam?' _He thought, again marveling over the similarities between her and his best female friend. _'Or maybe Clockwork's influencing my actions again.' _The Time Master had confessed to having great mental abilities, which he used to influence his actions. For instance, if he was about to walk into a GIW trap, he would get a sense of foreboding that would steer him away from danger and out of the trap. If he needed a safe place to sleep, he would get a sense of safety from a place where he wouldn't wake up with the police or worse the GIW bearing down on him. Long story short, Clockwork would influence his actions through his mind, giving him intense feelings of one emotion or another to guide his actions to result in the best course of action. _'Put's the phrase "Trust your instincts" to a whole new level when those instincts might be the result of an Ageless ghost meddling in your mind.'_

And it was the feeling that, for whatever reason, Raven was essential to whatever it was that we were doing here that guided him into what he said next. "He's short and green, with elfish ears and one fang. She's an orange redhead super strong alien escaped prisoner/slave. He's a half-human half-machine African American. And he dresses in traffic light color scheme that's somehow modeled after a small bird. That's not even including how weird _I_ am. You fit in just fine. And if it doesn't seem so, that's just because you're the most normal one out of all of us." He finished with a smile, earning a small smile and a nod in thanks in reply.

After that the group began to move forward through the winding hallways of the alien ship. ("Man, this ship is A LOT bigger on the inside than the outside.") They encountered very few gordanians, which was disturbing when you considered that the large number of them that invaded the city retreated back into the ship. _'But they're all going in the same direction that we're going in. At least that suggests that we are going in the right direction.' _Orpheus thought, frowning slightly at the thought.

"The hall of eating is coming up. Be warned. If they are aware of our presence on their ship and where we are going, then this is the perfect place to stage an ambush." Said the nameless alien as she came to a stop and pointed to a large steel door that covered the entire corridor.

"An ambush huh?" Orpheus mused before continuing "I think I might have a plan then, if they plan on ambushing us."

Robin smirked as he said "Well then. Let's hear it."

After telling the plan to everyone and then everyone agreeing to it, Orpheus nodded as said "Well then." Walking up to the steel, he activated the claws in his gloves. "After me."

Swing the claws out, he cut through the steel door from the top left corner to the bottom right corner with one hand and then repeated with his other hand, cutting from the top right corner to the bottom left corner. Swing both hands out, he then cut from the top corner to the bottom corner on both sides.

Jumping into the air, he kicked the door, sending the pieces he cut off the door flying into the room and creating a hole big enough for everybody to fit through, even Cyborg.

**I'MALITTLELINE BREAK, LONG AND STOUT I HAVE NO HANDLE NOR A SPOUT**

The gordanians were getting impatient. They had realized that the kid's, along with the prisoner, had somehow gotten onto the ship without anybody realizing it and were heading to the control room, although they were taking the long route to it. A route that demanded them go through the cafeteria unless they backtracked. They would ambush them here and recapture the prisoner and kill the others. And if they backtracked then they wouldn't get to the control room in time to stop the cannon was firing. Then it would be only be a matter of taking off into space so the kids could not escape, recapturing the prisoner and killing the others. Or better yet, they could possibly sell the others too and make extra money.

Suddenly, claws poked through the steel door, slicing it up. Seconds later, the half-metal human and the prisoner walked through. Slightly confused about where the rest of the group had gone, they waited for them to walk into the middle of the room before rising up from the tables they were hiding from and quickly surrounding the pair, aiming their energy spears at them.

"Prisoner! Lord Trogdar is _very_ displeased with your attempt to escape us. You are surrounded, outnumbered, and have _no _chance of escape. Give yourself up now and we will not punish you for your insolence. Same goes for your friend."

"I think not. We might be outnumbered, but you're outclassed. Completely." Said a new voice.

The gordanians looked to their right to find the grey-cloaked hero standing there on the side of the wall. Then to their left to find the brightly colored hero standing there. Then behind them to see the girl in the blue cloak just appearing in a mass of black energy.

It was at this point that Cyborg and alien-girl, seeing as how their attention was at the moment preoccupied, choose to attack.

Cyborg sent a punch at the nearest gordanian as alien-girl took flight and dead rushed another gordanian in the air, sending multiple gordanians flying in the process. Beastboy turned into a panther and proceeded to pounce one of the gordanians as Raven took to the air and began throwing tables at the green aliens. Orpheus jumped down and let loose two one-handed ghost fang to clear the gordanians off to get himself some breathing room before dipping into his ice powers to create a simple bo staff which he then used to bash in the heads of most all the gordanians within range. _'Glad I took the time to learn how to form weapons out of ice. It's much more useful than I once thought.' _The only difference between weapons created by him and weapons created by other things were his were incredibly cold for people without an ice core, almost as hard as to be unbreakable and took extreme heat to melt. Unfortunately, there was a limited range of weapons that he could create. Swords, knives staves, shuriken, and other rather simple weapons.

It quickly became apparent that most of the gordanians present had been in the group that had been held off earlier as, while they could evade their attacks better than they could before due to prior experience, they were tired and most were already still hurt from their previous battle. When they got knocked down, most didn't get back up and a few gordanians at the edges of the battlefield left entirely.

"Man that was easy!" Beastboy said, causing Robin to narrow his eyes.

"You know, you should see if you have any weapons built in." Orpheus commented dryly

"Weapons huh? I think I could modify my sonic analyzer into a weapon now that I think about it. Just give me a second." Cyborg said, lifting up his arm to begin modifying but Robin interrupted him before he had a chance.

"Too easy, something's not right here." Robin rubbed his chin for a second. "They were just supposed to delay us!" He quick rushed to the door that was opposite them, throwing some pellet bombs at the door, blowing it and quickly rushing through the hole he just made, shouting over his shoulder "We have to hurry. Come on, we have to get to the control room, _NOW!_"

His last words lit a fire under everyone's ass, booking through the rather small hole in the door and down the hallway, catching up with Robin rather easily.

The seemingly endless hallway stopped at a large steel door that mimicked the one Orpheus sliced. Not wanting to stop, Beastboy turned into a rather large rhino and charge ahead of the group, knocking the door clean off its hinges (That is, if that kind of door used hinges.).

The command room looked like your typical command room. The gordanian were seated at chairs at the front of the room, in from of the control panel, which was in front of the plate glass front. Lord Trogdar was seated in the Captain's seat at the middle of the room.

At their entrance, Lord Trogdar stood up and pointed at them, saying "Their they are! GET THEM!"

Both the gordanians standing around the room and the one's sitting at the control panel quickly grabbed their spear-like weapons and ran at them, brandishing their spear's before them as they shot at them, Raven creating a black energy shield and stopping the blue energy projectiles rather easily.

After it went down, everyone charged. Orpheus and Robin both leaped into the middle of the fray, brandishing bo staves, Beastboy turned into a gorilla and proceeded to punch and kick, sending gordanian's flying while Cyborg did the same, minus turning into a large green gorilla, tinkering with his arm in between punches. Raven began ripping the bolted chairs out of the floor and threw them at the aggressive aliens while the orange alien took to the air and began launching green bolts of energy at them.

Orpheus looked around. He was back to back with Robin, surrounded completely by gordanians forming a circle about five aliens thick at every point around them.

Robin turned to him. "You think you can handle this?"

Orpheus glanced at him. "Well, might be tough if one more shows up."

Robin smirked"Well, that'll be the one I'll have to take care of then."

Orpheus glanced at them."Wait, you're fighting too?"

Witty banter said and out of the way, they charged at the group without further due.

Orpheus slammed the end of his staff into the head of one of the gordanians, sending him stumbling back as Robin mimicked his actions with another of the green aliens. Swinging their staves this way and that they made quick work of the aliens.

Nodding to each other in acknowledgement, Robin put up his staff and prepared to launch bird-a-rangs while Orpheus decided to have some fun. Turning himself intangible he phased into the body of the nearest gordanian, overshadowing it.

After getting the hang of the limbs he grabbed the energy spear that the creature had been carrying and proceeded to shoot the gordanian's allies. The green aliens let out a cry of outrage at thinking that one of their own had betrayed them and focused their attack on him, completely ignoring the misfit group of teens.

Orpheus did his best to ignore the pain that was being inflicted upon his overshadowed as he repeatedly fire the energy spear. However, after another volley of energy blasts he found it was becoming difficult to move in his possessed body and harder to move as well as the corners of his vision darkening. Recognizing the signs of the life fading from his possessed body, he phased out of the gordanian. As soon as became tangible he was roughly grabbed from behind by a green hand. Before he could get it off, he was lifted up into the air rapidly and thrown backward, smashing threw a window and hitting face first against the far wall.

Turning around with a groan he noticed three things. One, his goggles were really tough, they weren't even scratched! Two, his hood was still up. Without putting it to the test, he wasn't really sure whether or not it really was able to not fall down unless he put it down on purpose. And three, all the gordanian's were out cold except Trogdar, who was both the one who had grabbed him and thrown him like a rag doll and was the one who was throwing around the rest of his group in a similar fashion.

Head spinning from impact, he focused his energy on his broken nose, healing it slowly. A little trick he picked up on the run. If he was injured, conscious, and not dead tired, he could focus his energy on the wound, accelerating his already impressive healing. On a different note, he could do the same to strengthen his arms or legs and into his skin or bones to harden them to take more damage but that was much harder and took more concentration.

After healing his broken nose, cuts, and reducing his headache to a bearable level he lit up his hands with green energy and put them together, firing a exceptionally big ghost ray at Trogdar's back, getting the oversized gordanian's attention.

"You won't best me!" He growled, lunging at him. Orpheus dodged out of the way, barely, and ran to the side. Robin threw two bird-a-rang's at him, hitting him on the side of the head as Beastboy turned into panther again and pounced at him. Despite being dazed at being hit by the bird-a-rang's Trogdar managed to catch him in mid air, squeezing him painfully. Beastboy changed back from the pain and let out a scream, Trogdar responding by throwing him back in the far wall, where he himself had just impacted moments ago. Unfortunately, Beastboy's human form was not as sturdy as his, showcased by the painful crunch that was heard on impact as Beastboy fell limply to the floor. For a second, everyone was quiet, before Trogdar let out an evil chuckle. "One down, five more to go." He said, still a slight chuckle in his voice.

Quickly, Orpheus closed his eyes, feeling for Beastboy's aura. _'He's definitely wounded but it doesn't seem to be life threatening, or at least, his aura doesn't seem to indicate him being near death. His part in this fight is over though, that's for sure.'_ Turning his head toward Trogdar, he was just in time to see Cyborg let out an angry roar, as he charged into the gordanian lord with renewed vigor, taking the green alien off his feet and sending him flying back.

He looked back to Beastboy to see that Raven had walked over to him. He couldn't see what she was doing to him, as her back was turned but he could feel that his aura was improving so he assumed that she was somehow healing him.

Robin took his Bo staff and charged at the alien, face red with rage. He managed to get in a few good hits before Trogdar backhanded him, sending him flying too. Fortunately, Robin didn't appear to be that injured but it'd take him a moment to regain his bearings. Cyborg charged at Trogdar, who laughed and dodged to the side and cloth lined him. Putting his foot and Cyborg chest he laughed again. "You're too young to be anything more than a minor annoyance to me!" picking up a nearby sheet of metal that dislodged from the floor during the flight he used it to block the green energy blasts from the alien-girl then threw it like a Frisbee at her knocking him back.

Dipping into his ice powers, he shot an ice ray at him, covering the arm he was about to use to smash Cyborg's head. Trogdar flexed, breaking it. Dipping into them further, he shot out a few more ice rays, freezing Trogdar's left leg, right shoulder, chest, and left arm, as well as one ray grazing his face, covering his right side of his face in ice.

Trogdar picked up a resisting Cyborg with his good arm and threw him at Orpheus who dodged to the side at the last moment and hit alien-girl, taking them both to the floor. Trogdar flexed again, breaking the ice yet again.

'_Time to test these things out.' _Orpheus thought, activating the brass knuckles in his gloves. Running forward, he jumped over Trogdar's swinging arm and nailed the gordanian lord right in the face, sending him staggering back. Following up with another punch to the torso, this one that caused him to fall flat on his back. However, he quickly got back up and ripped a nearby chair that was bolted to the floor out of the floor and launched it at him with tremendous force.

He would have just dodged but he realized that he had been maneuvered where Raven was behind him healing Beastboy with her back turned. _'If I dodge out of the way, it'll hit Raven and Beastboy with their back turned!' _He thought, slightly panicked so instead of dodging, he put up a green shield.

Unfortunately, he underestimated the force behind Trogdar's throw. The chair hit the shield and the force behind it broke through his shield, sending him flying over Raven's and Beastboy's heads.

Dazed and disoriented, he could only look on as Trogdar approached a newly awake Beastboy, who was being supported by Raven. Raven looked around, panicking slightly. Robin had taken a hit to the head and was currently getting his bearings. Cyborg had become tangled up by wires and was stuck, unable to move. Alien-girl was trapped underneath rubble, close by to Cyborg, and wasn't getting out of it at a fast enough rate to come to the rescue. And Orpheus was behind them, dazed. Beastboy was only now coming to. Raven control was shot from healing him and from all the wild emotions coming from the other inhabitants of the room, as well as her own wild emotions, causing her powers to go haywire, barely restraining them as it was.

And trying to use them right now could blow the ship. _'Wait. That's not a bad idea…'_ Raven thought, a plan forming.

Trogdar smirked as he got nearer. Summoning all the dredges of control that she could, she yelled at Trogdar, even as her eye's glowed white. "STAY AWAY FROM MY FRIENDS!" She yelled as she used her magic to grab all the members of her group and send them flying toward her. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" She yelled as the ship suddenly exploded.

The last thing anybody, save Trogdar and his gordanian lackeys was a familiar, yet still indescribable warm sensation that was attributed to Raven's teleportation.

**End Chapter**

**Finally managed to complete this chapter (hardest one so far)**

**As in the above note a poll is up on my profile page on which one of Danny's ghostly enemies will fight Danny and the Titan's first. Currently in the lead is Nocturne, followed closely by Skulker. If you choose or have an idea for a Original Ghost, PM me the idea (Cuz if you don't and OG wins, I'm making up my own unless anybody submits me any ideas.)**

**Unfortunately, because of School starting back up for me (and sadly school work takes precedent over story writing (Even though I enjoy this a lot more), and my newfound emerged game addition (If you have an Xbox 360 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 PM me your gamer tag, I'll give you mine and we'll play a few games. Be warned, I'm good and I don't often lose, despite my deceptively low multiplayer level) the rate of chapters coming out will slow down BUT NOT STOP. THIS STORY IS NOT GOING ON HIATUS, NOR AM I ABANDONING IT BUT THE RATE OF UPDATES WILL SADLY GO DOWN.**

**Thank you for the reviews, there what make me update faster.**


	7. Chapter 7

**POLL IS STILL OPEN. VOTE IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY DONE SO. CURRENTLY IN THE LEAD IS Skulker**

**ON WITH THE SHOW**

**Chapter 7**

Orpheus shook his head, disoriented. Currently, he was sitting on top of a pile of rubble, the other members of his team nearby, all of them similarly disoriented. Closer inspection revealed that the rubble was the remains of the alien ship; they were on the island in the middle of the bay in Jump City and, judging by the light in the sky, the time was a little bit before sunrise.

"Oh man, what a wild ride…" Beastboy said, seeing stars.

"You're telling me." Cyborg agreed, shaking his head to clear away the stars.

"You know, I never did get your name." Robin said, looking at the orange alien. She gave him a small smile.

"My name is Koriand'r." Said the newly revealed Koriand'r.

"Huh?" Was the simultaneous response for everyone, save Koriand'r, who rolled her eyes. "In your language it translates roughly to Starfire."

"Oh." Was the response of everyone save the orange alien.

The female alien smiled and was about to say something but was interrupted by a roaring sound and a hurt and _very_ angry Trogdar emerging from the nearby rubble. He raised his hands in preparation to smash the group but before he could a blue beam hit him square in the chest, both knocking him back and knocking him out.

Cyborg smirked as his hand turned back from his new sonic cannon. "Ok, I'm only gonna say this once: Booyah!" He said, punching up at the air with his fist. Orpheus rolled his eyes as he replied "Something tells me that you're going to end up saying that whole lot more than once."

"Please, I look…nice?" Said the nervous voice of Starfire. Turning around, it was revealed that she had changed her outfit. Now, her outfit is mostly purple with a belt, her neck and arm plates being silver. She wears a sleeveless top showing her midriff, a purple mini-skirt, and thigh-high purple boots. Robin's cheeks turned red as he nodded nervously, Cyborg nodded vigorously, Orpheus clapped, and Beastboy wolf-whistled while Raven said nothing.

"I am most sorry for the destruction caused earlier and, with your permission, I would like to stay here on earth." Starfire began. "Where the people are most strange ("HEY! Said Beastboy, Cyborg, Robin, and Orpheus simultaneously while Raven rolled her eyes.) But also most….nice." She finished, looking at the ground and rubbing it with her foot.

"You don't need our permission." Raven stated. "But if you want our friendship, you've got it." Robin finished, causing Starfire to let out a bright grin.

"Hey look, the sun's rising." Beastboy said, pointing to the horizon. Starfire stared at the beautiful image, and Cyborg smiled in appreciation while Robin and Raven watched on impassively. Orpheus smiled too but in his mind he was once again saddened. Watching the sunrise reminded him of times where he and Sam would stay up too long patrolling Amity Park and would watch the sunrise together on a roof somewhere. _'When will I ever be able to move on? Almost everything around here reminds me of what I've lost' _He completely missed the curious glance Raven sent his way. _'There it is again! His emotions are crazy. One second he feels completely at peace and suddenly they change to sadness so strong that they make _me _want to cry. Just what happened to this guy?'_

"It's beautiful, but only if you like sunshine and happiness and stuff like that." Beastboy said, nudging Raven, who gave him a distracted smile and replied without thinking "You know, you're pretty funny." As soon as she said that, she felt a shudder go down her spine as Beastboy broke out in a wide grin. _'Why do I get the feeling that I/she just created a monster that will haunt us all for centuries to come?'_ Were the thoughts of Raven and everyone who heard her response and saw Beastboy's reaction.

"Duuuuuuuude! Oh man! You think I'm funny?!" Beastboy said excitedly, tears in his eyes and on his knees with his hands clasped together in a begging fashion. Before a thoroughly creeped out Raven could find her composure to respond the green changeling jumped back to his feet, the sky spontaneously clouding up, with a single ray of sunshine surrounding Beastboy who now had angle wings, white robes, and a halo on top of his head. "I know millions of jokes! And you think I'm funny?! I'm HILLARIOUS! I AM THE JOKE GOD!" He declared, fist pumping at the end.

All the random effects brought on by Beastboy disappeared as soon as Robin opened his mouth. "Right…"

Snapped out of his stupor by Robin's voice Cyborg said "You know, despite what anybody says, we do make a pretty good team." Robin stared at the half-machine teen. The half-machine teen stared back. Then Robin broke out into a smile. "I think your right. We did do really good back there." Turning to look at the rest of the group. "What do you guy's say? I think we could all use some friends right now."

Robin extended his arm, putting his palm facing down. Then Beastboy did the same, putting his hand on top of Robin's. Followed by Starfire, then Cyborg. They all looked at Orpheus and Raven.

Orpheus sighed. He was touched by the offer, he really was. But he wasn't looking to join a team right now. Just as he was about to open his mouth to say so however, the world suddenly froze in place. Everyone was frozen in place, even the birds in the sky and the waves.

A portal opened up next to Orpheus in the shape of a clock and out of it floated out the Time Master himself, Clockwork. He looked around impassively, his gaze lingering slightly on Raven before his gaze stopped on Orpheus.

Floating forward, he brought out a time medallion from within one of his pockets. He put the time medallion around Orpheus's neck, tucking it under his shirt so it couldn't be seen, resting right next to his DP locket. Not a second later Orpheus unfroze, looking around, confused until his eyes rested on the immortal ghost.

"Clockwork. Meddling again, are you?" Orpheus stated, giving the ghost a look of mock disapproval. "You know the Observants will have your head for this, right?"

Clockwork waved off his concerns with his hand. "I predate them. They can threaten me all they but the truth is that there's nothing that they can do to me where as I can literally end their existence in my sleep."

Orpheus chuckled for a second then turned serious. "You don't sleep. Why are you here?"

"I am here because no amount of influenced feeling will stop you from writing off the chance to join this team. I'm here because you feel that you can't join this team because of what happened to your last team."

Clockwork's words had the desired effect as Orpheus recalled what happened.

_Flashback_

_They had just left the ruins of what was once the Specter Speeder. He had amended the plan. Now it was to find Tucker and either have him destroy the anti-ghost field generator or hope they could all get out of its range and go on from there._

_According to Sam, Tucker should currently be to the left of where they found the wrecked Specter Speeder. Now they were running again, toward where Tucker should be. He feverantly hoped that Tucker was alright and that he could get out. If not, then he didn't want to think about what would happen him or Sam._

_It became apparent that they were going in the right direction, if the smoking ruins of building were any indication._

_As they approached a clearing, he found the smoking pieces that remained of the Fenton Battle Suit. "No…Not Tucker too!" Danny cried out in complete agony as he looked for the body._

_And surprisingly, he did find Tucker. He was bleeding from his right eye, missing his right ear, and his right arm was mangled beyond belief. But he didn't see that. What he was paying attention to was the fact that Tucker's chest was amazingly still moving up and down. _'He's alive!'_ Danny thought excitedly as he ran over to Tucker as fast as he could._

_As soon as he neared him, Tucker's left, functional, eye snapped open._

"_Tuck, man, take it easy. I'm gonna get you all patched up. Your gonna be ok." Danny assured himself more than Tucker._

_Tucker tried to lean up and after he failed he managed to croak out. "Danny watch out its Sam! She did this to me! She's been…" Before he had a chance to continue listening to Tucker he felt blinding pain associated with a tazor being shoved into the middle of his back, shocking and paralyzing him, causing him to fall to the side of Tucker._

_Managing to get his resisting limbs to comply somewhat, he looked to see that the person who had shocked him was none other than Samantha Mason._

_Lifting his head up to look into her purple eyes, he said two words that he was just dying to know the answer to he said simply "Sam….Why?!" She just gave him a cold smirk as she kicked him upside the head with her boot, causing his vision to fade into darkness._

_End Flashback_

Orpheus was snapped out of his thoughts by Clockwork continuing "Bottom line is very simple. The best course of action for you is to accept this offer to join this newly formed team now."

Orpheus looked away for a second before looking back at Clockwork, staring the old ghost straight in the eyes. "Best for me? Or…Best for the future at large?" He asked, genuinely curious and a little apprehensive. After all, if given a choice, Clockwork told him outright that he would throw Danny in the fire without batting an eye if it was for the best in the long run future wise. Clockwork just gave a mysterious smile.

"Both. Trust me; this is the best course of action for you, your new friends, and so many others. But I can't force you. In the end, it must be your decision. Just know that not joining will start in motion a series of events that will destroy this world, and all the innocent people in it." Clockwork stated, floating back toward the still open portal. "How the hell is that not forcing me?" Before remembering that Clockwork seemed to be forgetting something. "Hey!" Clockwork turned around to look at him. "Aren't you forgetting something?" He said, pointing at the time medallion hidden underneath his shirt. Clockwork gave another mysterious smile and a wink. "Why don't you hold onto that one for me? You'll need it more than I will."

As soon as the portal that Clockwork disappeared into disappeared time restarted again. He sighed as he slapped on a grin and put his hand, palm down, on Cyborg's large metal hand, saying "Count me in! All eyes fell on Raven. She looked away, biting her lower lip. After a second passed, she made up her mind and placed her own slender hand on top of Orpheus's.

Robin let out a wide grin that was matched by the other male members and Starfire as the group broke. "Well, alright! There are just two more things we need to settle now. One, what are we going to call ourselves and two, who's the leader?"

"I think we should put it to a vote." Orpheus chimed in helpfully. "Which one?" Beastboy asked, puzzled. Orpheus smirked. "Both."

"Ok then, more important one first." Robin started only to be interrupted by Beastboy. "Duuuude! My vote if for the name "SUPER AWESOME ROBO TEENS!" Beastboy declared, giving a 'thumbs up' to the sky in the process.

"Ok, one, I think he was going to say to vote on who's to be the leader of the team. Two, There is only one person on this team who has robotic implants, so naming it like we all have them is stupid. And three, _I'm _the only one on this team with cybernetic implants and I don't like the name, so you should think that it's a pretty lame name. Pick something else." Cyborg paused long enough to take a breath. "I'm putting my vote towards "Young Justice"."

"Oh, come on dude! You're calling my name lame and yet you want us to sound like some Justice League wannabe's!" Beastboy retorted, angry at his disapproval at his name and getting in Cyborg's face. Cyborg was getting angry, showcased by his face turning red and steam coming out of his nose. But before either of the two teens could doing anything about their anger Orpheus, exasperated, said "Why don't we just name ourselves "Teen Titans and just be done with it?"

Surprised, Robin blinked twice and looked at him. "That's…actually a very good idea Orpheus."

Orpheus looked offended. "Come on man, do you really have to act so surprised? I'm hurt!" He said, gripping his chest like he had just been stabbed, then falling over, playing dead and holding a flower to his chest. Robin sweat dropped at Orpheus's antics. "Right…All in favor of the name "Teen Titan's" raise your hand." Everybody raised their hands, Orpheus included as he sprung back to his feet. "Ok then, now that the _all important team name _is decided on, now to what I was saying when I was so rudely interrupted." At this point he glared at Beastboy, who at first gave him a cheeky grin but began to shrink down as it progressed. Happy at getting his point at across, he started. "Ok, raise your hand if you think Cyborg should be leader." Cue a rain cloud forming over Cyborg's head when nobody raised their hand. "Ok…Who thinks Starfire should be team leader?" Starfire's smile wilted when nobody raised their hands so she crossed her hands and pouted, mumbling something probably insulting in an alien language and joined Cyborg in getting rained on. "Alright then. Who thinks Beastboy should be team leader?" Beastboy raised his hand, then looked around and realized he was the only one raising his hand and put it down, ears drooping.

Robin snickered at his expression. "Sorry Beastboy. Anyway, who here thinks Raven should be leader?" Nobody raised their hands and Raven rolled her eyes and mumbled "I'm not much of a leader anyway."

Robin just nodded, not really sure how to respond to that. "Ok then, who here thinks Orpheus should be team leader?" To both Robin's and Orpheus's surprise, both Raven and Cyborg raised their hands. Robin then continued on, slightly miffed that there was a chance that he wouldn't be team leader like he wanted. "Ok, who thinks that _I _should be team leader?" To his satisfaction and disappointment, both Beastboy and Starfire raised their hands. _'Tied.'_ Were the thoughts of Orpheus and Robin.

Nobody spoke for a split second. Then "You be team leader. I don't really want to be leader so much anyways." Robin blinked and looked at him, then smiled. He didn't know why Orpheus didn't want to be leader, but he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. "Ok then, I'll be team leader. You'll still be second in command though."

Orpheus nodded. "I guess I can deal with that." He looked around. "So what now?"

"Well, first what we need to do is find a base of operations." Robin answered, causing Cyborg to get a thoughtful look. 'What about here?" Cyborg asked, pointing to the alien probe thing that was still standing. "It has a stable foundation, I can rework the technology in it to match earth technology, do some interior and exterior redesigning and it'll be perfect for us."

"Are you sure you can do it?" Robin asked, getting nod from the half-machine teen. "It'll take about a month though, give or take and I'm going to need some supplies to do it with though."

Orpheus nodded, rubbing his chin. "And we're going to need furnishing for it too. That alone won't be cheap. Add in food, water, power, and other things that were going to need and that is a pretty hefty fine. I don't know about you but I don't have near enough to even begin to cover that much."

"I have a plan for finances; don't worry about that right now. I'm going to go talk to the Mayor and clear it for us to work in the city. Cyborg, you get started and do what you can now. Orpheus, find a hotel or something and work out where we will all him be staying in the meantime. We will meet back up where ever Orpheus finds and go from there." Robin started to walk away only for Cyborg to call out to him. "Wait!" Robin turned around. "Here, I made these communicators out of my own parts so we can keep in touch. It's secure so nobody can listen in on our conversations." Cyborg said, handing everybody a small yellow and black communicator with a grey T on it. Robin nodded, pocketing it.

Orpheus and Beastboy copied Robin's motion. Orpheus turned to find that both Raven's and Starfire's had similarly disappeared. _'Just where the hell did they put those communicators? Their outfits don't have any pockets and I don't see any out of place lumps under their clothing…' _**(Anybody have any guesses for just where Starfire and Raven put their communicators? Because that's something I always wondered when I watched the show)**

Shaking himself out of that line of thought, he nodded to the two girls and Beastboy. "Come on then, I guess we better get looking for a hotel or something."

**BREAK ME ONCE AND I WILL LINE BREAK YOUR FACE REPEATEDLY**

The first thing Orpheus and his strange band did was get to the middle of the city and start looking for somewhere moderately nice but not too expensive to stay. Unfortunately, any of the none expensive hotels were plain trash and everyone refused to stay there. And there was no such thing as renting six good hotel rooms without it being expensive. "Not too expensive my ass." Orpheus moaned as he just threw his wallet at the hotel employee who got dollar signs for eyes and threw the hotel keys at him as he almost emptied his wallet of money and then threw it back at him.

For some reason or another, he was the only one in a group composed of Beastboy, Raven, and Starfire that had any money. Starfire he could understand, being a recently arrived alien. Raven strangely enough didn't have any money either. And Beastboy apparently spent all his money on the arcade just one night before. Which left him as the only one able to pay for a hotel room When the numbers just kept going up he decided to just say "Screw it" and went all out in renting the best six rooms that he could afford to for two weeks. After all, it never hurts to try to make a good impression of generosity on his new teammates. Even if it did almost clean him out.

Which was why he got six of the best rooms that he could, all connected to a living room with a flat screen in front of a couch behind which was a kitchen table, off of which was connected three bathrooms. One for Raven and Starfire, one for him and Robin, and one for Cyborg and Beastboy.

After an interesting elevator ride where he learned that Beastboy had a strange fetish for being the one to hit the button in the elevator (Unfortunately, he didn't know the correct button to press so he pressed all of them and turned a short elevator ride into a annoyingly long one that stopped and opened on every floor.) they arrived at the correct floor. Finding everything in order, getting a slap on the back and a "Duuuuude!" from Beastboy, a "Glorious!" from Starfire, and a nod of acceptance from Raven.

After fiddling with the communicator and figuring out how to work it, Orpheus contacted Robin. Robin's face appeared on the screen. "Yes?"

"Found a place or us all to stay for two weeks. Dude, whatever plan you have for getting us funds, you better put it in motion as soon as you can because I only had enough for renting the rooms for just two weeks. Got enough left for a few meals but after that I'm out." Orpheus reported, keeping a straight face. Robin nodded.

"Duly noted. Pass the location onto Cyborg. Once I'm done at the Mayor's office, I'll meet you there. And don't worry, I've got it covered." Robin assured, a little pissed at the apparent lack of faith in him.

"Hope you do." Orpheus muttered as he turned the communicator off to meet the stares of his fellow teammates. Scratching the back of his awkwardly, he said "So…Want to watch TV or something?"

**THIS IS AN UNCREATIVE LINE BREAK SUE ME**

Robin turned off the communicator, turning to continue going to where the Mayor's office could be. He didn't know what possessed him to take off for the Mayor's office like that when he didn't know where it was. Usually, it was in the middle of the city so that's where he headed but when he got there he couldn't find it, which then resulted in him going all around the city to find it.

Now Orpheus's call had reminded him that there was something else that needed to be done. _'Oh man, not looking forward to this.' _However, seeing as he was getting nowhere trying to find City Hall, he decided it was for the best to just get it over with.

Pulling out a small red flip phone he turned it on and speed-dialed a number. It only rang once before being picked up and a rough male voice said over the other line: "Hello Robin."

Robin gritted his teeth. "Hello."

"I thought you didn't intend to come back, or even call for that matter." Stated the voice on the phone in a neutral voice.

"I don't intend to come back. I need a favor however." Robin stated in an emotionless voice.

"Would this favor have anything to do with an alien attack and almost invasion in Jump City, California?" Asked the voice on the phone. Robin suppressed his surprise as he wondered how he could know about events that happened not even half of a day before.

"If you know that then you know that's where I am and yes, it does." Robin replied evenly.

"In particular, it wouldn't have anything to do with an unregistered humanoid class alien whose escape and the other aliens attempted retrieval of said alien and yours and a select few others interference in said attempted retrieval of alien, would it?" Again Robin was speechless. No news report would have that kind of information and even if it did there hadn't been enough time for the news reporters to get the information all the way back to him.

"Yes, it would, actually. I need a very generous member of the filthy rich upper class to make a _very _generous donation to a up and coming team of teenage superhero's based out of Jump City, California." Robin said, feeling sick having to do this so soon after leaving.

"Oh really? This team wouldn't happen to have said unregistered humanoid alien on it, would it?" Said the male voice on the phone. Robin gritted his teeth again.

"Yes it does but you don't know the full story." Robin said coldly, eyes narrowing. "The alien that's on my team was actually an escaped slave. She was sold somewhere, most likely from her home planet, and was on route to another to work as a slave there for the rest of their life. She managed to escape however while the ship was passing by Earth where she proceeded to crash land in Jump City. After some confusion while she was attempting to remove her restraints by smashing them against the ground and nearby buildings, during which I was joined by the other's as you put it, I removed her restraints after which she used an ability her race apparently possess to learn English through lip contact with myself." Robin paused to take a breath, glad he couldn't see his red face at remembering how Starfire learned English. Over the phone he could have sworn he heard a chuckle.

"After which she fled the scene. After getting somewhat acquainted with those who helped out and after the alien ship made an appearance and declared that they were searching after an escaped prisoner. Wanting the full story, I joined what I thought was going to be a temporary team, composed of Beastboy, Cyborg, Raven, and Orpheus, to hunt her down. When we found her she was eating the snacks at a nearby movie theater. We talked and we found out that she wasn't a prisoner, but a slave in transport to a planet called the Citadel. After that we were found by the other aliens, who we found out were called the Gordanians with their leader named Trogdar. After fighting off the group that found us Trogdar informed us via hologram that our defiance had earned destruction and he was going to use a giant cannon on the side of the his ship to destroy us."

"After a brief moment of panic we banded together to stop them. Managing to get onto the ship we made our way to the control room where we confronted Trogdar. After fighting him, we defeated him and destroyed his ship. During the entire fiasco we managed to work together fairly well, leading to me to believe that we would make a good team. They agreed, elected me leader, and choose to name ourselves The Teen Titans. We found a base and we are in the process of getting authorization from the Mayor. All we need is funding." Robin finished, feeling nervous about how he would react.

"So let me make sure I have this straight." The man on the voice said in a deadly calm voice. "You joined a team composed of two people who didn't even exist a day before, a immature changeling who was known for being a bit wild and who was kicked off a team known for having a _very _heavy hand when it comes to fighting crime, a half human half machine African American whose still coming to terms with his half machine side and has known social problems to hunt down a escaped alien convict. And when you found her, you assumed that she was telling the truth about being a slave and interfered with her recapture, resulting in putting a city full of innocent people in danger. You allowed said volatile alien to assist in you saving the city, which you did by blowing up the ship…With your entire team still in it, completely forgetting that you were in the middle of the city and just how far shrapnel can fly. After that, you decided that you made a good team and allowed said alien to join it, completely ignoring the fact that any alien here unregistered is here illegally and is not protected by any laws and is thus subject to _indefinite imprisonment _by any law enforcement in the country that she is located in, including, seeing as they function also as a intergalactic police centered around Earth, the Justice League." Robin let out a growl of both anger and frustration.

"_You weren't THERE! You don't understand how it was! Question my actions if you must but don't question my ability and remember that you were not there so don't assume you wouldn't have done differently!_ Did you forget that I've been trained to be able to tell by body language if someone is lying? I could tell good enough that she wasn't lying and besides, I've had some experience with human slave trafficking so I know that there are some things that can't be faked that former slave's exhibit and she had all of them. As for that fact that she is unregistered, fax over a copy of the necessary forms to register her on Earth and I'll have the unregistered alien, AKA Starfire, fill them out and I'll get them back to you. As for the rest of them you know that I've been trained to judge character so I know that, while every single one of them has their fair share of secrets, they are all trustworthy. Each and everyone one of them had multiple chances to kill one another and none of them took it. And besides the alien, all of them choose to help of their own free will. That alone tells me enough about them." Robin said, yelling into the phone at the beginning then settling into a deadly calm near the end.

A awkward settled over the two as the man on the phone contemplated his words. When it passed thirty seconds Robin began to fear that he had gone too far. Then the man on the phone spoke up again. "You're sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"If you start down this road then you better finish it. You know what that means right? See this team through to the end because if you don't then your superhero business is _over_. That I will see to myself." Said the voice on the phone in a dead serious voice.

"I'll finish it." Robin said, feeling a sense of foreboding as he said it.

"Good, then don't worry about money. I'll set up an account that you can use to meet your needs." The voice on the phone said in a calm, cool, collected tone.

"Ok then. Thanks…Bruce." On the other end of the phone, Bruce Wayne let out a rare, small, smile.

"Oh, and Robin, before you hang up, you need to go down the street and take a left then a right to get to the Mayor's office. The forms should be waiting for you by the time you get there." Bruce's smile made a transformation into a smirk as he heard Robin's yell of frustration as he ended the phone call.

**TO LINEBREAK OR NOT TO LINEBREAK THAT IS NOT A QUESTION**

Orpheus stared at the TV, gritting his teeth in a vain attempt to ignore the excited chatter of a hyperactive green changeling in one ear and the very similar sound of fast talking in the other ear by an excited alien. _'Note to self. Never try to make small talk about TV shows with Beastboy again and never show Starfire something that she hasn't seen yet such as TV again! Neither of them will shut up for a long time after.'_

After he had turned on the TV, a mistake he regretted deeply at this moment, Raven had retired to her room, mumbling something about needing to sleep or meditate or something. Cyborg still had not come back. And it had been an hour and a half since he had called Robin and he still wasn't back.

He groaned at the unusual torture that he was being subjected to. His groan going unnoticed by either of them, he suddenly got up and headed to his selected room, tailed by the chattering duo the entire time. Entering his room, he slammed the door of his room straight in their face, and then locked it. He didn't want to be mean, he really didn't. But there was only so much that he could from either of them and slamming a door in their face was the most peaceful way to do that.

Phasing through the side of the hotel wall, he activated his boots and walked on the side of the wall all the way to the roof, flickering into invisibility during his ascent to remain unseen. Hoping over the side, he laid on his back and stared up at the sky, deep in thought.

After he had gotten his ghost powers, his dream of becoming an astronaut had went through an evolution. His fascination with space and other planets had only strengthened with his ability to explore space endlessly (Or at least as long as he could remain in ghost form.) The only thing was the fact that if went too far there was a chance he could get lost, and, even if he was wearing an astronaut suit in human form, he would die in seconds if he went back to human form.

However, he found it strange to think that it was no longer his main goal to become an astronaut. It happened so slowly that he never even noticed it until the change was complete. Now his goal was, ironically, to make a living helping people. _'Kind of idealistic, everything considered.'_

"What are you doing up here?" Asked a voice he recognized as Robin's as said boy-wonder walked up to him. Orpheus made a big show of jumping to his feet and turning to face him before answering.

"Just thinking. It was getting a little hard to do that in the room with Beastboy apparently being a big TV fan and Starfire not far behind." Orpheus replied before suddenly snapping his fingers and digging into his pocket, bringing out 2 keys on a single ring and tossing it to Robin. "There is a key to our room and the second key is to your bedroom." Getting a confused look from Batman's former apprentice, he explained the room's that he had rented.

"Nice of you to go all out for everybody. Personally, I would have been ok with a semi rundown motel somewhere." Robin said, earning a scowl from the grey-cloaked hero which was ignored. "There's something that I've been meaning to ask you for some time. Why didn't you want to be team leader?"

Orpheus looked away from Robin, his face becoming a grimace of pain. Internally he debated with himself over whether or not it would be a good idea to tell him and later the others about his past. _'I don't want him to know about my past as Phantom thanks to all the crimes the GIW have accused of me. I think it would be alright though if I give them vague details. Maybe, if I do that, then I can get them to trust me easier.'_ "This…Isn't the first crime fighting team I've been on. I was the team leader on the other one. You probably haven't heard of the first one because we rarely ever encountered any problem that took us out of our relatively small town and as far as I know we never became well known except in our town. Hell, I was the only that was publically known out of the entire member's of my team." After he said that he saw Robin get a thoughtful look and added in. "Don't bother looking for the members of my team or any information on them or me at all."

Robin shot him a look, suddenly suspicious. "Why Orpheus? Why don't you want me looking? What do you have to hide?"

Orpheus restrained himself from hitting the cocky hero that was getting in his face as he replied in a carefully neutral tone. "I said don't bother looking because at that time, I had a very different appearance and went by a different name. If you looked for me based on this appearance and name, you would find that I came into existence yesterday stopping a bank robbery. As for why not to look into my former teammates, most of them are not in the hero business anymore. Why that is and more importantly, why I left the team, is what I am _not _going to tell you right now. Just know that some things happened and it's better for everyone that you don't dig up the past."

Orpheus looked away after he was finished speaking and started walking away but Robin's next words froze him solid. "Something happened to them, didn't it?" Orpheus didn't move as Robin walked back into his field of vision, staring him straight in the eyes. "Something happened to them and, as team leader; you blame yourself for their fate."

Orpheus was once again weak at the knees and began swaying as Robin continued. "That's why you didn't want to be team leader isn't it? You're afraid of a repeat." Robin paused, and then said in a softer tone. "Look, I don't know what happened. But, if you really don't want me or the others knowing right now, I understand. Understand, however, that teamwork is built on trust and it's harder to trust a friend that's keeping secrets than a friend that's not."

Orpheus let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding in as he relaxed when he realized that Robin wasn't going to go looking. Nick didn't say it outright, but he had hinted that it would be bad for anyone to go digging up information on him or Phantom.

Now relaxed, he replied in what he hoped was the same soothing voice as before. "Trust is a two way street. I understand if you feel you can't fully trust me because of my secrets as long as you understand that the reason why I don't reveal my secrets to you or the others is because I don't fully trust you. As long as you don't act like you, me, and everybody else on this team doesn't have their own secrets then I think we will be alright." Orpheus paused for breath.

Robin let out a nod of affirmation. _'I'll let this side for now, but, if it comes back up to rear its ugly head, I WILL look into it regardless of what he wants.'_

"So, what did the Mayor say?"

"Let's go inside and talk about with the others. They need to hear this too." Orpheus nodded in agreement; neither of them noticing a black bird of energy that detached itself from the shadow cast by the roof door and flew down and through the wall.

_**A few minutes earlier, before Orpheus went to the roof. **_

Raven arrived on the roof, transforming back from her soul self. After she had gone to her room away from the others to meditate, she had realized that the walls and door were not that thick enough to be sound proof. Not wanting to go through their "Living Room" and run the risk of getting caught up in conversation with someone, she transformed into her soul self form, which was that of a black energy bird, and phased through wall and up to the roof, transforming back when she got there.

Crossing her legs and levitating in mid-air, she got into a meditative stance and began chanting her mantra. She floated there, their chanting, for a full ten minutes, before she sensed the approaching emotions of a person.

Normally, she would have completely ignored whoever it was until they left or until they started hindering her meditation until she was done. She opened her eyes however, when she felt the strange emotions of her new teammate that fluctuated between deadening to near nonexistence and intensifying to the point where she had to put up mental walls. Currently, he was mainly feeling annoyance. _'Starfire and Beastboy must have annoyed him out the room. Wonder why he's coming up here though.'_

She didn't normally do this, but, in an effort to learn more about one of her new teammates without having to go through the effort of asking and risk getting lied to (Thought her power to sense emotions allowed her to tell when somebody was lying to her) she decided to instead transform into her soul self and hide in a nearby shadow.

At first, she felt a little guilty spying on Orpheus. However, when he went two minutes straight lying on his back and just staring at the night sky, her guilt gave away to pure annoyance. _'Wow, I'm going through the effort to remain hidden so that I can watch him stare at sky. This isn't even spying anymore. Spying implies that I'm gaining useful information and all I get from this is that he likes to stare at the night sky while lying on his back. This is more like….Stalking.' _That thought made her pause. Raven thought of herself as many things but the last description she would use to describe herself was "stalker". After staying for another minute, she was satisfied that she wouldn't learn anything from Orpheus at this time and started to leave but before she could she noticed the controlled, serious emotions coming off of someone traveling by rooftop toward them. By the emotions and by the method of travel she could only guess it was Robin and that he was coming here.

He arrived not ten seconds later. Orpheus and Robin began talking, completely oblivious to her presence in the shadow. She could hear what they were saying and it seemed that they wouldn't say anything of relevance at first. Then Robin asked why he didn't want to be team leader. Almost immediately his emotions intensified to near overwhelming degree's and changed to sadness and self hate. She could barely breathe with amount of pure depression that came off of him. It changed slightly to anger however, when Robin got in his face and accused him of having something to hide. After Orpheus's explanation it calmed down somewhat but the depression came back in full force and then some when Robin hit the nail on the head and said "Something happened to them didn't it?"

Both of their emotions calmed down somewhat when Robin accepted that he had secrets and said that he wouldn't go looking for information on him. She did flinch though when Orpheus mentioned that everyone else on the team had their own secrets. At that point she could not find it in herself to continue her spying and, when the duo turned their heads, she exited the shadow and flew down the side of the building and through the wall into her room.

'_Last thing that I would have expected to overhear. So Orpheus used to have another team and, judging by his emotions, something terrible happened to them that he blames himself for it. Not only that but Robin is saying that he won't check into it, which is surprising, considering I thought he was the kind of guy who obsessively won't let things like this go.' _Then she remembered that last statement that she heard from Robin. _'Guess I better go out and see what Robin got from the Mayor.'_

**THIS LINEBREAK WAS COMPLETELY INSPIRED BY NOTHING AT ALL.**

Orpheus and Robin had walked back to the living room in a tense silence. Robin had just called for everyone to be silent so that he could make an announcement just as as Raven was exiting her room. Before he had a chance to say anything however he was interrupted by Cyborg bursting through the door with an excited, wide grin on his face.

"Big news!"

**End Chapter**

**Late in coming but bear with me, I will try to do better. A bit of a boring chapter in my personal opinion. Maybe that's why it was so frusterating to write…? A small confrontation between Danny and Robin, and setting the stage for the Teen Titans (Has anyone else noticed that, in the show, it just jumps from Cyborg giving them communicators to them suddenly being a team, with Robin leading? Come to think of it, a lot of writers do that as well. Not that it's a bad thing but I think that a lot of info is skipped in this omission that could give a lot of insight into team dynamics and other such things that are important, if a little boring.) The next chapter will, sadly, probably be a bit boring too as it finishes up the "Teen Titans Go!" arc and then I promise I will jump straight into one of the episodes. Anyone have any requests on what episode you guys want to see first?**


	8. Chapter 8

**WARNING: This chapter mentions sex, porn, and other possibly inappropriate material. Read at your own risk and answer the following question in review or, if you prefer, Private Message.**

**I have been browsing through different achieves here on this fine site and I've noticed that the idea of a 'harem' is almost nonexistent except in Anime and a select few other categories. SO, in my ongoing quest to maintain a sense of originality as best as I can, I have decided to try and put a harem in this story. What is your opinion on this story changing from a Danny X Raven to Danny X Harem (Multiple girls)? Keep in mind that if I do decide to do that then the main couple in the harem will still be Danny X Raven, it will most like be small, three girls at the most. Girls that are out of the question: Danni (If I decide to put her in the story that is, as of now nothing is decided), Jazz (Yes people, She is alive) (Think people, Jazz in any sort of pairing with Danny is incest and I'm pretty sure the same is true for Danni. And I don't even read incest, let alone able to write it), Starfire (She will most likely be with Robin), Valerie, [Insert name of any and all Casper High School students and or teachers that are female, Spectra, Ember ****WARNING SPOILER AHEAD. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.**** Sam's ultimate fate has been decided so, sadly, she will be unavailable to be in the harem as well for reason's I won't disclose. (Sorry Danny X Sam fans!) Terra's fate is undecided BUT, if she lives (And that is a very big IF at this point), I am leaning toward her hooking up with Beastboy. Possible candidates are, basically, anyone else and OC's.**

**Let me know what you guys/gals think about it in reviews but, please, don't flame. If you don't like the idea, just say "I don't like the idea of a harem in your story." And move on.**

**Keep in mind when responding that I've been known to do something just because someone told me not to, ok? **

**That said…**

**ON WITH THE SHOW!**

**Chapter 8 (Takes place IMMEDIATELY after Chapter 7)**

"So, what's up?" Beastboy asked, turning toward the new arrival and putting his back to Robin in the process, who sweat dropped at Beastboy's short attention span.

"Dude, I was about to make an announcement. Wait your turn." Robin said, turning to Cyborg and giving him a look at being interrupted, even if it was by accident. Cyborg turned to look at him. "Is what you were about to say more important than what I have to say?" Cyborg asked in a skeptical tone.

"Dude, how the hell am I supposed that? I don't know what you're about to say." Robin replied, a little pissed at being interrupted then having it implied that what he had to say was less important than what someone else had to say. _'If I going to be team leader, then this kind of stuff is going to have to stop. Bruce wouldn't take this and neither will I so I'm going to have to see about getting them to listen to me and work with each other so we can start acting like a real team instead of six hero's. Man, I have my work cut out for me.'_

Cyborg leaned over and whispered what he was about to say into Robin ear, causing his eyes to widen ever so slightly. "Important, yes. More important than what I have to say, no." Robin stated, before whispering into where Cyborg's ear would be if he still had one. Said whispering continued for over half a minute before an exasperated Raven. "Can you both _please _stop whispering in one another's ears and just say whatever you're going to say, one after another?"

Robin had the decency to blush. **(Guys don't blush, we redden. What's wrong with you Robin? Let's try that last line again.)**

Robin had the decency to redden. **(Doesn't have the same "ring" to it. Oh, well.)**

Cyborg gave a nervous grunt and nudged Robin to start speaking. "Well, I worked out the whole "money" problem. Tomorrow, I'll go to the bank and get a few credit cards linked an account that has more than enough money to meet our needs and then some." At that point he handed out some papers to everyone, giving a double stack to Starfire and none at all to Beastboy.

"Dude, what's with the forms?" Orpheus asked, holding up the stack of paperwork.

"Part of the deal with the Mayor." Robin replied. "Every member of our team has to have a file containing our background information, among other things. Beastboy, your files are being faxed over by the Doom Patrol."

"What other things?" Orpheus asked, suddenly suspicious.

"Just, you know basic information. Physical attributes such as date of birth, gender, age, height and weight, some medical records such as blood type, and any other information about your physical make-up that we might need to know to care for you if you're injured like any weaknesses or allergies. There is also a powers list, approximate scale to rate strength, speed, endurance, reflexes, and all other physical capabilities. I'm pretty sure there is an intelligence test in there as well as a section devoted to testing knowledge in specialized fields of most any kinds." Robin explained, looking away.

"Let me guess. There is also a section designated to personal information such as history, home town, enemies, allies, and basically everything that we try to keep from being general knowledge." Orpheus countered, glaring at Robin. After all, after just having a conversation about everybody having secrets, it seemed a little too convenient that Robin was now handing him a piece of paper and telling him to write them all down, one by one.

"Yes, there is." Robin said slowly. "But I'm not going to force you to fill in everything truthfully." Cue shocked looks. "I understand that there are some things that you would like to keep secret, which is why I'm not going to force you to fill in _everything _truthfully. I _do _need correct information in everything health related, for what should be obvious reasons, a correct rating on physical attributes and a complete powers list as well as an accurate intelligence and knowledge test to make a proper use of you as a member of the team." Robin paused to take a breath, looking tired all of the suddenly. "Just let me know what's a lie by writing it in red. And just so you know, nobody going to see these files or have access to them on a regular basis except me and the Mayor"

"Please, why do I have many more of the work of paper than the others?" Starfire asked, confused. Robin gave a small smile. "As an alien, you also need to register in order to live here on Earth." Then he noticed Starfire's rather alarmed expression. "Don't worry; I'll give you a hand with the paperwork. Should be easy."

"Ok now, on to what I have to say." Cyborg began, looking over the assembled Titans. "You guys remember how I said it would take me about a month, right?" Everyone, save Cyborg. "Well, I was wrong."

Cue simultaneous face palms and Beastboy blurting out "Dude, what's this have to do with anything?"

"I'm getting to it, grass stain." Cyborg answered, miffed. Beastboy huffed at his new nickname. "Anyway, when I started digging around, I found that there must have been a substantial amount of construction robots on board when Raven took it down. Unfortunately they are all smashed beyond belief but _I_ managed to find the parts needed to put one together. With a little work I managed to put it together and reprogram it to follow my commands."

"So, what, you built yourself a friend to talk to?" Beastboy said, cracking up. Cyborg sent him sent him a glare. "For your information, Burt doesn't talk. What he can do though is build. I programmed him to sift through the rubble and build more robots just like him."

"So, you built a friend, named it Burt, and programmed it to build more just like itself?" Orpheus asked skeptically.

"And once he's done, he will begin working on our new base and, after I power, program, and activate any robots he manages to build from scrap, so will they." Cyborg responded, looking proud. "Bottom line: I should be able to shorten the amount of time it takes to build our base from about a month to two weeks or so."

"That's great news Cyborg!" Exclaimed Orpheus as Starfire cheered, Beastboy whooped, Robin grinned and clapped, and Raven just gave a small smile.

"Ok, team, let's get some rest. It's been a long day and tomorrow will be no different." Robin declared, getting up and retreating to his bedroom, everyone else soon following suit.

**THISLINEBREAKWASINSPREDBYTHE TROLL' , MY FRIENDS**

**TIME SKIP: THE NEXT DAY**

After filling out the papers and having them collected by Robin (Who was exasperated by the amount of red ink Orpheus used.), Robin gave each of them a paper detailing the terms of the agreement, needing their signatures in order to validate the agreement.

The terms were simple, if a bit extravagant. The Mayor would validate them to work as law enforcement officials with _very_ special privileges as well as pay for 55% of any damages caused and give them both the bay island to use as a base and a generous individual monthly allowance (Read: Salary) with bonuses gained whenever the team took down a villain based on the villain itself as well as speak to the local power and water to get them to give the team a discount. In return, they had to lower the crime rate in the city by 10% within the first two weeks as well as stop it from rising a certain percentage in a certain amount of time, there would be paperwork dossiers on every member of the team, and they would protect Jump City from all threats and pay for the other percent of the property damage not covered by the Mayor.

"Over all," Robin had said. "It's a very good deal. Makes me wonder why he was so…giving."

After signing the agreement and giving it to the bird-boy to deliver, which he did immediately while the others were eating breakfast. After he got back he quickly set forth a schedule for the team to follow. Every day, after breakfast, each member of the team would get a sector of the city to patrol for three hours, alternating sectors each day. After that they would all meet in the middle of the city and patrol the entire city as a team for two hours. Then it was time for lunch. After about a ten minute lunch, they would partner up and patrol the city for another three hours, again alternating sectors. After that, they'd divide up the sector into north and south and have a pair patrolling each, with everybody else either left to their own devices or helping with the tower as needed until dinner time. After that, someone who wasn't a part of the earlier extra patrol would patrol around the city until halfway into the night, and then would wake up someone else to do it the rest of the night.

But all that was for tomorrow. Which lead to Robin standing at one end of the table, Orpheus sitting at the other end, and everybody else sitting in-between.

"All day today we're working on teamwork." Robin said, throwing a glance at each of them to see their reactions. "That's one of the biggest things that we haven't even been talking about."

"Teamwork?" Beastboy said skeptically. Robin looked at him.

"Yeah, teamwork. Beastboy, you were on a team, didn't you ever have teamwork exercises?" At that Beastboy got an ashamed look and mumbled something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like "Didn't really pay attention often to them."

Robin rolled his eyes but continued. "Teamwork is important. I've been thinking over our fight with Trogdar and I think I know why we almost lost." Robin adopted a lecturing pose, whipping out his Bo staff and using it as a pointer as a white screen fell down from the ceiling. Orpheus pulled out a projector from nowhere and turned it on showing various scenes from the earlier fight with Trogdar as Cyborg handed out full popcorn bags to Starfire and Beastboy, an outrageously large soda cup to Raven, who eyed it distastefully before pushing it away from her, causing it to side all the way down the table until it was caught by Orpheus who happily took a swig as he munched on some chips from a nearby bag. And then Cyborg pulled out a rather large bag of assorted candy which he kept for himself. Robin just face palmed at their antics and continued. "Our biggest glaring problem which was a lack of teamwork, trust." Robin was looking straight at them but his mask covered eyes seemed to have glazed over, as if thinking back to another time, another place. "In every instance, we leave each other open to attack. Our every move clashes with someone else's, losing much of its momentum in the process. We don't work together at all. Hell, I'm amazed that we didn't accidentally kill each other with how close we were playing it at hitting the enemy and not hitting each other."

The projector flipped to different pictures taken during the fight, Robin using his Bo staff to point out various instances where they either left a teammate open to an attack from behind from an enemy or where they almost hit a teammate with one of their attacks. (On a related note, Beastboy could feel what felt like holes being drilled into the back of their head when most of the pictures revealed that he was the one that most often came the closest to hitting another teammate)

"Trust, won't happen overnight and teamwork can only really be developed in the heat of battle. But that doesn't mean that we can't do something to help it out." Robin finished, putting away his Bo staff. The white screen went back up and Orpheus put the projector away as all the food brought out was put up.

"What do you suggest?" Orpheus asked, his face getting completely serious. "Teamwork won't come easy. And trust is even harder."

"For, teamwork, the Mayor told me about a section of the city that was up for demolition anyway. We could evacuate people from the area and use that as a temporary training ground. Hold some practice spars; see what each other can do. As for the trust thing…" At this Robin looked a little uncomfortable. _'Here's the tricky part.' _"As corny as it sounds, I think that the best way to gain some trust would be to share something about ourselves."

Cue weird looks. "Dude, you serious?" Beastboy said. Robin shrugged.

"If we're going to be teammates, then we should know _something _about each other don't you think?" Robin said rhetorically. "Just tell us something that you think that we would need to know about you anyway, if it makes you feel better. I'll start, since this is my idea in the first place." Robin took a deep breath. "I'm very obsessive compulsive. Once I start on ANYTHING I find it very hard to stop, to the point that I almost can't stop."

"Ooh! I shall go next with the sharing of the secrets. Come close, I do not want it to be overheard!" Starfire exclaimed, floating up slightly before falling back down and pulling everybody close in a semblance of a group hug. "Once, when I was just a small little knorf, I….I…" Starfire got teary eyed and seemed to shake and draw in on herself, drawing everybody in closer as a result, her super strength nearly forcing Robin to kiss Cyborg's metallic chest, much to the boy-wonder's distain. Starfire started to speak again, except it was so low nobody could hear her.

"It's ok Starfire. If you really don't want to tell us, that's fine. We can move onto…" That was as far as Robin got before being interrupted by a "No!" from Starfire.

"Please, this has been on my abdomen for a great long time! It is time for me to come washed!" Starfire exclaimed. "Abdomen? Come washed?" Beastboy whispered to Cyborg, who shrugged his massive shoulders. Orpheus, who had overheard them, said "I think she mean 'get it off of her chest' and to 'come clean'. There is one other possibility though…"Orpheus trailed "What is it?" Cyborg asked, curiosity peaked. Orpheus looked the half-machine teen dead in the face with the most serious expression on his possible. What he said next however, would invoke an image in the head of Cyborg, Beastboy, and a curious Robin that would result in taking their ability to look at the female alien **(AN: Would female alien be acceptable to be changed to **"alienette"?**) **without a blush for a full week and would continue to haunt them all well into their later years.

"It could be that Starfire is sex crazed nympho in disguise, just waiting to rip off of her clothes and ours so that she can deflower and ravage us repeatedly. I, for one, would like to have the ability to walk for the next few months so at the first sign of trouble I am phasing through the floor to escape. Who's with me?" Orpheus asked, struggling to keep his face straight at the look of complete shock that appeared on their faces, followed by a full on face blush **(I give up. These guys are just determined for it to be the unmanly **'blush' **instead of the manly **'redden'**.) **_'Just like I suspected. Robin IS a closet pervert. Beastboy was a given perv but I'm surprised to find that Cyborg is too. I wonder if he can use his cybernetic implants to record and watch XXX films on the internet…'_

At what Orpheus said caused some very not-so-innocent thoughts to go through the minds of three of the male Titan's, while the last male Titan was doing his best imitation of an evil chuckle in his mind, a certain alien was pulling herself together for a big confession she kept trying to make, and a grey skinned empath was wondering why three of the Titan's suddenly began to give off emotions scarily similar to what a dog gave off when he was in heat and cautiously, she edged away from the three as much as she could while being held in Starfire's group hug hold, unintentionally getting closer to the only male Titan that didn't feel like he was in heat.

Cyborg was getting a little uncomfortable with the way that Orpheus was looking at him. _'Why do I get the feeling that Orpheus is going to ask me a VERY awkward question in the near future about my connectivity to the internet?'_

Starfire slowly began to start speaking again "When…When I was just a knorf, I…I stole…I stole a…I STOLE A ZUCKSABURGE!" At that statement Starfire burst into tears and hugged the nearest person she could get her hands on, which was Robin. Unlucky in that she hugged him around his neck and with her superhuman strength nearly caused his head to pop off. Lucky because, thanks to the thoughts that were just running through his head, he was enjoying it far more than it hurt. Orpheus looked at Cyborg and Beastboy and said two words in the gravest tone he could manage. "Robin's first." These two words caused Cyborg and Beastboy's blush that they had just managed to get under control to flare back up, only this time it was accompanied by snickering as the two struggled to keep a straight face. Orpheus was chuckling too but that was stopped cold when he heard a new question.

"Robin's first for what, exactly?" Raven asked coolly. Based on their emotions she could tell that it was meant to be an inside joke and, by their earlier emotions, she could tell it wasn't a clean joke. One that was directed at Starfire, thankfully and not herself. As of yet, she wasn't sure about an appropriate means of payback for such a thing. _'I wonder if that guy that mistook me for a hooker ever reappeared…'_

Said 'incident' happened about an hour before Starfire's arrival. She was walking down the street, at night mind you, intent at finding a place she could rest the night. This guy had stumbled out of a little bar, saw her in her outfit that without her cloak left her legs completely exposed as well as being a bit tight, and assumed she was a prostitute. He came up to her and tried to pay for her 'services'. At first, she was just going to ignore the guy. Then when he kept on pestering her she planned on taking all the money he tried to use to pay her without doing anything for him just to spit him for annoying her and use the money to get a hotel room for the night. Then he began to get irritated and put his hands on a place on Raven's body that, as of yet, _nobody _had earn the right touch. After she removed the offending limb from her body and restrained herself from killing the poor drunk, although she did give him a few cuts, bruises, _maybe _a broken bone or two, she knocked him out and used a spell to send him on a round trip to the scariest dimension she could think of that wouldn't kill him as well as a memory spell that ensured that he wouldn't consciously remember anything when he returned, She used the money to buy a herbal tea and a bit to eat. It _was _taxing to jump dimensions and send things on round trips to them too which took up the rest of her money. Thinking back with a calm mind, she felt a little guilty about it. He _was _drunk after all and while that didn't excuse him completely, it _should _have given him a little bit more leniency.

Long story short, she wasn't sure on how to dispense justice the next time something of that nature happened. But that was neither here nor there at the moment as she stared at a nervous Orpheus as Cyborg and Beastboy laughed even harder in the background at his situation.

'_How am I going to explain this in a way that doesn't…I got it!' _"It was an inside joke. Do you really want to know?" She nodded 'yes'.

"Do you really _really _want to know?" Again she nodded

"Do you really _really __really_ want to know?" Another nod.

"Do you really _really __really __**really **_want to know?" "…Get on with it."

"On with what?" Robin asked, recovered from Starfire's feared Hug of Death as said alien looked completely recovered from her odd confession. Orpheus grinned. "On with the sharing, of course! Raven here was just telling me how she wanted to go next." Orpheus said cheerfully, getting a glare from Raven as now all the attention was on her and she could think of no good way to get out of this situation. _'Clever, Orpheus, very clever. I'll have to remember that.'_ In the background Beastboy and Cyborg looked like fish with their mouths hanging open at how Orpheus got out of his situation and turned it around on Raven.

Raven sighed when they continued to look at her. "I keep my emotions under control to better control my powers and I enjoy peace and quiet, along with reading books with herbal tea. Happy?" She finished sarcastically.

"Ecstatic." Orpheus replied, his hood hiding a smirk.

"Well, since you're so happy, why don't you go next Orpheus?" Raven said, a little miffed at being coerced into going well before she intended to. Orpheus just closed his eyes and smiled. On the inside, though he was panicking just a little bit which caused Raven to smirk in triumph when she felt it. _'Let's see, what to tell them that will satisfy their curiosity without telling them too much that will lead to them figuring me out… That's a small list'_

"My parents were ghost hunters. I have a lot of knowledge in ghosts, spirits, demons, and most anything supernatural as a result. In fact, when the tower is finished I was hoping that maybe one of the rooms could be turned into a lab for me to use so that I could rebuild some of their inventions…?" Orpheus trailed off, looking at Cyborg who frowned. _'HAHA! There are literally millions of kids with ghost hunter parents. Or, at least, there should be. All those ghost hunting fanatics that attended ghost hunting conventions that my parents made me attend when I was younger __**had **__to have paired up and procreated at some point…Right?'_

"Yeah, sure, let me know what you need in the lab and I'll make sure that there's one that matches your specifications….You DO know that there's no such thing as ghosts, right?" Cyborg said, only receiving a knowing smile from Orpheus that disturbed him as a response.

"Moving on, Beastboy, why don't you go next?" Robin said, looking at the changeling who just let out a groan. "Aw man, do I have to?" A stern glare later told the youngest that he did. "Fine." Beastboy pouted and crossed his arms over his chest as he thought up something to say. "I'm an ultra-recyclo-vegetarian, happy?"

"…What?" Was the response of everybody save Beastboy and Orpheus, who rolled his eyes.

"It means that he can't eat anything that had a face on it at one point." Orpheus answered the unspoken question.

"Whoa, most people don't know that. How do you?" Beastboy asked, curious. Orpheus's eyes grew slightly wet underneath his goggles as he answered in a low tone. "I had a friend who was a big one."

Everyone grew quiet at the somber tone that he said it in. Then "Cool. I guess, now, you have another one, right?" Beastboy said, walking over to the grey cloaked hero and put his arm around his shoulders in an attempt to cheer him back up. Although it lost the effect slightly when he had to stand on his toes to reach his shoulder and still only reached half way across his back, it still appeared to cheer him up as he lifted his head back up, smiled, and nodded.

"I guess I'm last, huh?" Cyborg mused, wondering what to say before he had an idea. "I'm the exact opposite of Beastboy, unfortunately. I'm a bit technology obsessed too. Hell, I have to be, considering I'm the only one I trust to fix, well, me!"

'_So let me do a role call. I've got a girl who could be Sam's sister who probably shares her dark outlook on life. I have a kid who shares Sam's strange eating habits as well as some semblance of her usual upbeat personality. A half machine African American who would be instant best friends with Tucker if they ever met. An obsessive compulsive guy who strangely enough, reminds me of my sister. Last but not least I have an alien who's cheerful yet strangely naïve nature matches that of my Dad.' _Orpheus paused in his thinking. _'I'm just glad that none of them remind me of Mom…That would have been just too weird.'_

"Now that our whole 'Trust' thingy is done, can we get on to wrecking stuff?" Beastboy asked, excited. Robin turned to look at him.

"What makes you think we're going to be wrecking stuff?" Robin asked. Orpheus rolled his eyes, an act that was hidden by his goggles.

"You just told us that we were going to a part of the city scheduled for demolition and said something about evacuating it. There really isn't anything else that we could do in that setting other than wreck stuff." Orpheus replied rhetorically.

"…We won't be wrecking stuff _purposely. _I just don't want to pay a fine or risk hurting civilians for training exercises that _may _end up being more than a little destructive just because we have nowhere else to do them."

**I HAVENOINSPIRATIONFORTHISLINE BREAKITISUTTERLYUNCREATIVEIN EVERYWAY**

After evacuating the rather large number of civilians that were in the part of the city scheduled for demolition, Robin decided to start things off by a demonstration of their powers.

Unfortunately, other than having trained his body to be at the very peak of human ability, being very skilled in both hand-to-hand and with a Bo staff as well as bird-a-rangs and a variety of other pieces of technology, Robin had no other powers to speak of. He made sure to point out that even without powers he could still take on any member of team and fight them to a near standstill if not beat them entirely.

After that went Starfire. Her powers were largely already known so instead Robin simply asked to see just how strong they were. How strong she was, how fast she could fly, how destructive those 'starbolts', as he learned they were called, were though for safety reasons he didn't test how durable she was.

Next was Beastboy, much to the changeling's excitement. His powers were pretty simple. He could turn into just about any animal he imagined, no matter size. His only weakness was the fact that in animal form he couldn't speak, the amount of time between shifting forms, the fact that shifting from one animal to another was longer than shifting from human to animal since he actually had to turn human first before he could turn to another animal, for reasons unknown. The only other thing that made him different from other humans, other than his strange pigmentation, was that his senses in human form were a whole lot better than that of a regular human, and he _seemed_ to be just a tiny bit more durable than a regular human.

Next was Cyborg. His strength was his biggest advantage, second only to his durability. Just to prove how hard the metals that made up most of him were, he managed to find a cop and somehow convinced him to take aim and shoot Cyborg in the chest multiple times at point blank range. When Orpheus later inspected the spot where the bullets impacted their wasn't even a dent of any kind that he could find. Strength wise he was just a little below Starfire, although he argued that much of his strength was used constantly to lift himself so he couldn't lift anything with his full strength. Technology wise he had sonic cannons in each arm as well as a select few other gadgets that he said that he was still figuring out how to use.

After that was Raven's turn. Apparently she could use her black energy much in the same way that he could use his ectoplasmic energy. In other words, she could form black energy constructs, shot it out of her hands, and a lot of other things too. Only she could also transport herself and others, use telekinesis, and use it to turn intangible like he did. Only when she became intangible she became completely black with a white outline.

Last but certainly not least was Orpheus. _'I think I'll just keep it basic. I'll let them know about my super strength, ectoplasmic energy manipulation, ice powers, intangibility, invisibility, and what the gadgets Nick gave me can do. Maybe show them my telekinesis. But later, when I'm training it. And I guess after leading them to Starfire last night, I have to tell them about my aura sensing abilities. No way in hell am I showing them anything else though.'_ And that's exactly what he did.

After he was finished showing what he could do, Robin put his hand to his chin, thinking of what to do next. He snapped his fingers suddenly with an idea. "Ok, I think I know what we can do for the rest of the day. If we're going to be protecting this city then we need to get familiar with the city so we don't get lost."

"…You're doing this because you got lost on the way to the Mayor's office, didn't you?" Orpheus asked flatly. Robin's blush in embarrassment confirmed his suspicions.

"Either way, we need to get to know the city real good. It doesn't do anybody any good if we get lost on the way to stop a villain."

**YOU WILL EVENTUALLY DIE IF YOU READ THIS LINEBREAK ALL THE WAY UP TO THIS POINT!**

His plan to 'Get to know the city' was apparently translated to a sort of modified paired patrol for the rest of the day with really no set area to watch, stopping only to rest or eat and use the restroom as needed. Robin, naturally, paired himself up with Starfire so that he could teach her about more about earth and its culture (As to why Orpheus, Cyborg, Raven, or Beastboy could not do this was completely unknown). Cyborg apparently let it slip that he was into video games and that he had some money so Beastboy immediately decided that he would go with him and run a patrol that just so happened to take them past all the major arcades and video game stores in the city. So that left Orpheus and Raven to run a patrol together.

"So…Anyplace in particular place you want to go by?" Orpheus asked the blue cloaked sorceress next to him as they both just wandered around on the street, ignoring the weird looks they got from other people that were doing the same.

"Not really." Was the quiet reply. Orpheus glanced at her with a frown. Although he knew it was wrong, he couldn't help but compare her to Sam. _'She is certainly a lot more subdued than Sam is.'_

Thinking about that brought up painful memories.

****Flashback****

_Danny was in a room almost identical to his own room back at Fenton Works. Back at his home. Back when everything was safe. Before he became a halfa, his room had always been a safe haven for him. It was more than just a place for him to sleep or a place to keep his stuff. It was a place for him to go. A place to go when the bulling and teasing about his weird family became too much. A place to go from his sister that always seemed to leave him in her shadow and his parents. His goofy but lovable parents that just don't understand. A place to go when the pain of being an outcast became too much. A place to go at times when the friendship of Sam and Tucker just wasn't enough to lighten that pain enough to bear._

_But, despite the fact that the room that he was in was completely identical to his own, it wasn't his. It was a fake, a sham, counterfeit. The GIW, he discovered, leaned more toward psychological torture that physical torture, although they weren't against inhuman physical torture sessions either. Sessions that he wouldn't have survived if it wasn't for his healing. But the psychological torture sessions were worse in his opinion. One of the things that they would do would be wait for his wounds to heal, then put makeup on him in his sleep to cover up the tell tale scars that he 'acquired' during his stay as well as any other evidence that he wasn't back home, safe and sound. They then put him in a perfect replica of his house with windows that were really screens that displayed what really would have been outside his window at that time and robots with holograms on to make them look like his family. Sometimes, they really went all out and reconstructed a full scale version of the city that was complete with hologramed robot people to live in it. If it was the small scale version they would predictably let him stay in it about half a day before either doing a mock capture, usually 'killing' his robot family or having them be the ones to turn him in. If it was the full scale version the range of time they would let him stay in it was at the least a day and at the most a week. In that case they either had his fake robotic 'friends' turn him in or did the same for his family as they did before. Sometimes they would just put him back in their torture/experimentation chamber and begin with electricity at a high enough voltage to make his very skin begin smoking to wake him up. And then continued to use one method of torture to push him to the very brink of human endurance of pain. He remembered one time they hung him upside down and poured water on him to make him feel like he was drowning._

****End Flashback****

His memories, however, were not complete. When he finally escaped and got away from the GIW he was a royal mess. Crazy paranoid, moody, depressed, aggressive to anybody and anything, jumping at unexpected sounds. Every time he woke up he expected to be back in GIW custody so much that he stopped sleeping, coming to the conclusion that if he didn't go to sleep they couldn't take him. He wasn't able to stand that bleached white deathly color that was the trademark of the GIW. He even started hearing and seeing things that weren't there. Long story short, he became extremely unstable and someone with his powers instability was dangerous for both everyone and thing around him and himself.

Clockwork helped him though. His new DP locket also doubled as a special memory seal. What it did was put up a barrier in his mind, trapping most of the memories of his stay at the GIW behind it. And since the memories were the source of his craziness, it also served as a temporary cure to his insanity. It was special because it slowly bled the memories back into his subconscious mind at a super slow rate, letting his mind deal with the trauma associated with one memory before dealing with the rest. The result was him getting his memories slowly back but without the craziness associated with them. "The only risks with this kind of thing" Clockwork "Is either you getting too far away from the seal itself or the seal getting damaged." When he asked what would happen if either happened Clockwork simply said that it "wouldn't be good for anybody" and left it at that.

He looked back at his silent companion. _'I appreciate peace and quiet once in a while too but man this is too much. Let's see, what's a conversation starter…?'_

"So…You said you liked to read right?" She stopped walking, looked at him and nodded. "Have you read any good books lately?" He asked as he started walking again, Raven started walking again soon after.

"I don't think that you and I like the same books." Raven replied, as emotionless as always. Orpheus let out a smirk.

"Try me." Raven look at him skeptically. He looked at her confidently. She sighed before replying. "Ok then, have you read _The Collected Poetry Works of John Masefield_?" **(AN: The person it mentions is, according to Wikipedia, a real person and actual dark poetry poet but I'm not sure if a book of his poems is named that or if it even exists ****)**

Raven smirked inwardly, confident that he wouldn't know who that was or read any of his poetry and would stop bothering her. Orpheus, on the other hand, let out a wide grin that made her inner smirk fade slightly. _'So that's how it's going to be. Good thing Sam got me whole sets of dark poetry books and guilt tripped me into reading them.'_

"Yep! I particularly liked his poem _The Seekers_. It was descriptive and rather moving." _'And now I see a good bit of myself in it as well.' _Raven look at him, completely surprised.

"_The Seekers_? It's a good poem, I guess. Not really the one that I'd pick though…" This started a conversation about dark poetry that lasted for quite a while. Orpheus learned that Raven knew WAY more than he did when it came to the subject. Raven learned that Orpheus knew a good bit of poetry himself, dark more than any other kind but still nowhere near the amount she knew. Orpheus learned that Raven, where ever she lived before, didn't get out much and spent a considerable amount of time reading. Raven learned that most of what Orpheus knew about poetry in general was varied, not really settling on a specific type unlike her.

They would have talked about it all night but they were interrupted when Cyborg called and said he intercepted a 911 call about a robbery at an electronics store in their area and asked them to handle seeing as they were the only Titan's in the area.

"Ok then, love to talk all night but I guess it's time to go to work." Orpheus said, turning off the communicator that still had Cyborg's face on it and putting it in his pocket. Turning to Raven he gave her a cheeky grin. "Race you there!" Before turning invisible and taking off down the street toward the electronics store that was being robbed. Raven rolled her eyes at the display.

'_I swear, sometimes it seems like he is an ok person to talk to and other times it seems like I'm talking a four year old hyped up on caffeine.'_

**At the Electronics' store**

Orpheus was crouching on the rooftop opposite the store with a robbery in progress next to Raven. Both of them were silently observing the scene. Three gunmen dressed in blue jeans and leather jackets with ski masks over their heads and holding identical metal prod like things and had a pistol in a holster at their sides. The civilians were tied up and huddled in the far back corner.

"So how do you want to handle this? Go in quick and quiet or loud and proud?" Orpheus murmured to the blue cloaked girl crouched next to him. A slight frown crossed her face as she thought about it.

"I'm going to assume that you mean take them out subtly or just charge in there." She said flatly, pausing to bit her lower lip in thought. "Why don't you handle the robbers while I get the civilians out of there and then help you with the robbers?"

"Good plan." He commented. "Wait for my signal." She nodded as he turned invisible and jumped over the rail and ran down the ceiling, slowing down when he got to the ground and jumping off the side of the building, landing in a crouch.

Turning visible, he walked up to the store, doing his best to look nonchalant. The bell rang as he walked in. Immediately all eyes in the store turned to him.

"Yo! Who da hell are you?" Said the apparent leader who will now be known as Robber 1 as he walked up pointing the metal prod thing at him.

"Hmm?" Orpheus looked around, pretending to be confused. "Oh, wait, this isn't the Pizza Parlor. Where am I?" He said slowly, slurring the words on purpose. Now all the robbers' eyes were glued on him, completely lost on what to do in this sort of situation. They completely missed a black energy bird coming through the far wall, near where the hostages were.

"Dude, what the fuck's wrong with you? Do you not see what's going on here?" The robber he christened Robber 2 said as he pointed to the last robber, Robber 3, who was in the process of empting the cash register into a backpack.

"Huh? What's going on here, a party? Hell yeah, man. I don't have a clue where the hell 'here' is but let's party!" He put his hands up and began to act like he was parting, dancing in place.

The robbers were literally scratching their heads, at a complete loss at what to do at this point. A black dome covered all the hostages, then shrank and collapsed in on itself, disappearing entirely, all the hostages gone with it, something that the robbers didn't see but Orpheus saw out the corner of his eyes and smiled widely.

"What the fuc—Man, get the fuck in the corner with the rest of them!" Robber 1 declared, pointing the metal prod at him like a gun. Electricity began to spark at its tip. Orpheus cocked his head in confusion.

"With who? I don't see anybody back there." Orpheus said, still grinning. Scowling, the robbers turned to where the hostages were tied up to make sure he wasn't just pulling their leg to find…Nothing. Not even any of the rope they had used to tie them up with. Letting out a furious yell, they turned back to the strange kid to find…Nothing. Again.

"Yo man, what the fuck just happened?" "They were right there! They were right fucking there, I know they were! Where the hell did they go?" Robber's 1 and 2 were both practically shitting their pants at that point when Robber 3 yelled at them to calm down.

"Chill guys! We got what we came for! Let's just get the fuck outta here before that weird kid comes back!" Robber 3 said, getting their attention. Agreeing instantly with him they started to the door, only to get sent flying when a green blast hit their in the back sending them flying out into the street.

"What the hell?" Orpheus said in response to the scene in front of him. They went flying but they were slowly getting back up. _'That should've knocked regular humans out cold!'_ The answer became clearer when they removed their ski masked revealing they wore metal black helmets with red edges and took off their zipped up leather jackets to reveal body armor that matched, save for the red symbol of a black star in a circle with a red background that was on their chest. The circle with the star in it was held in the claws of a red Chinese dragon _'Body armor? High quality too if it can keep them conscious. The kind that wouldn't be available to even law enforcement. And what's with that symbol?'_

The trio turned around and they looked _angry_. They drew their guns, pointed them at his chest, and fired before he even had a chance to react.

**End Chapter**

**So, as evidenced by the scene above, there are some new players on the field this time around. No, the robber's themselves are unimportant. (If they were important, they'd have actual names) What you should note is that symbol. Keep an eye out, that symbol will be important. No, the symbol has nothing to do with Slade, the Brotherhood of Evil, HIVE, or any other villain, although there is a chance that they may work together. I am proud to say that this villain is an Original Character. I will only reveal that this villain is a little like Slade in the respect that he prefers others to do his dirty work. Anything else will be revealed in time.**

**How many people caught the small clue about whether or not ne of Danny's friends are still alive?**

**REVIEW!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello One and all! Welcome to chapter 9! Starting things off, replies to reviews received for the last chapter! (If your review wasn't anonymous then you should have received a personal PM as a reply)**

Weirdo: **Ember, Spectra and (REALLY?) Jazz are not available unfortunately. Sorry**

Guest: **First, come on man, can you at least change the name? Second, I like the idea of competing relationships. I'll keep it in mind**

The Virus: **Thanks for giving me the go**

The Hybred: **Dora huh? Never even considered her but I will now.**

Warlord: **Pandora…another ghost I didn't even think about. Guess she can be in the running.**

Nabiyah: **Ok…Thanks for your opinion**

Sparxthehedgehog: **What do you mean 'dark shipping'?**

Heather: **I'll try, no promises though**

Guest: **Are you the same guest as before? Second, you bring up an interesting idea. Bring more Marvel in…I'll think about it**

Coldblue: **You got that right…Blackfire is extremely unlikely though, just sayin**

Coldblue: **Same person again? Don't spam if you can help it**

Weirdo: **See above**

Unknown: **They might get a look at how Danny's head works…**

Warlord: **See response to Weirdo above**

Weirdo: **Come on dude, three times? I shamelessly love reviews but three for one chapter is a little much. Can you please show some restraint and try to keep all your thoughts for a chapter in one review? I would absolutely hate to have to start moderating and removing unsigned reviews. Same goes for everybody.**

flamecid: **Ok…**

**Second, the poll winner: Skulker! Guess he really is a fan favorite. It'll be long in coming but Skulker will be the ghost that Danny fights (Hint: Won't be the first to appear though)**

**I've received a lot of feedback regarding the harem idea, some for, some against. So, by the time that this chapter is up there will be a poll up on my profile page regarding the harem idea. (Tried and failed to keep track of the votes for and against so this is my solution ****) Please vote in it to let me know where you stand. That being said…**

**On with the Show!**

**Chapter 9**

**Earlier, with Cyborg and Beastboy**

They were having a blast. Apparently, after the accident that ended in him becoming a cyborg but before meeting up with the other Titans, Cyborg made a killing as a loader and heavy lifter. And he kept all the money he made in a compartment in his chest. ("Why the hell should I put it in an account when I have somewhere ten times safer to put it?") Add in the fact had a built in computer, in which he had downloaded a complete map of Jump City, complete with building layouts and had his and the other Titans locations on it pinged, and he knew the fastest route through the city that would take them past all the arcades and major video game stores, the money to visit all of them and still have some left over, avoiding Robin the entire while, seeing that he was the only one of them that would care that much that they were hitting video game stores instead of patrolling and 'getting to know the city'.

Currently, they were taking turns playing Pac Man trying to see who could get the high score (He currently had the highest score and it was still going up) when he, with his enhanced electronic hearing, began to pick up sounds that, after doing a quick auditory search over the internet, matched up with gunfire. Specifically, gunfire associated with a high end pistols. Letting go of the controls to the video game in front of him, allowing Pac Man to be eaten by one of the ghosts which elicited a triumphant shout from the changeling in front of him. He was barely paying attention however as his cybernetic mind was working at a thousand miles a minute as he gained access to the 911 service and checked it for incoming calls. There were three calls coming in at the moment. One was originating from way out on the northern side of the city that was about a group that was robbing a jewelry store, just a few city blocks away from where Robin and Starfire were. The next one was about a robbery in an electronic store on the far southern side of the city, again just a few blocks away from Raven and Orpheus. The last one was probably from the gunfire he had heard. It was about a robbery at a grocery store, just a few blocks away from himself and Beastboy. What caught his attention was the fact that the police dispatcher didn't send the police to the sites, nor was there any sort of response from the police at all regarding the near simultaneous robberies.

Filing that information away for later thought, he quickly activated the communicator built in his arm; ignoring the bewildered look that Beastboy was shooting him in the process. Robin's questioning face appeared on the screen, right next to Starfire's curious one. "Yes Cyborg?" Robin asked with an edge of irritation in his voice.

Cyborg frowned at the tone but ignored it. "Just intercepted a 911 call; Robin, Starfire, there is a robbery in progress at a jewelry store near your location." Robin brow creased in a frown. "Gotcha, send the coordinates to our communicators and let the police know that we are taking care of it so they need to steer clear." Robin replied, then the screen went blank.

Cyborg was a little annoyed at his rudeness before he got over it and remembered the other two robberies. Quickly calling up Orpheus and Raven in the same fashion, he said the same thing to them. "Thanks for the heads up. Send me the coordinates and we'll get right on it." He then turned to look at Raven. "Ok then, love to talk all night but I guess it's time to go to work."

Cyborg turned off the communicator to see Beastboy glaring at him, annoyed. Apparently the green teen had been trying to get his attention for the last few minutes. "Dude, what the hell is going on?" Cyborg was already walking out the door, calling over his shoulder to Beastboy. "Come on man, we got a robbery going on to take care of." "But what about our game?" Beastboy protested.

"We'll have to come back to it; we have more important stuff to do right now."

***A few minutes later, at the grocery store***

Cyborg was looking over the glass pane front of the store, reviewing over the situation. There were three robbers, each wearing ski masks, black leather jackets, holding metal batons, and had pistols holstered at their sides. He sighed in relief when he realized they had just fired into the ceiling to get attention. Dealing with any casualties wasn't something he had mentally prepared himself for when he had decided to be a hero. On that note, the store employee's and unfortunate shoppers were all tied up at the back of the store

"Ok, here's what we're going to do-"Cyborg started only to see that Beastboy was no longer right beside him on the roof opposite the store. He snapped his head back to the store so fast he got whiplash. The robbers were standing around. One was in the process of circling the store, one was empting the cash register carefully into a duffle bag, and the last was watching the hostages. _'Where the hell is Beastboy? He was right behind me-There!' _Cyborg watched in a mixture of horror and apprehension as a green rat crawled out of a vent and across the floor, knocking over a box on a nearby shelf in the process. When Guard Robber turned around to investigate, all he saw was a fly and no cause for the box falling over. Turning back around, he could've sworn he saw a green rat tail disappear into the group of hostages. Writing it off as his imagination, he turned back around to monitor the store.

Beastboy, still in rat form, sighed in relief when he turned around. And at the fact that none of the hostages had freaked at the sight of a green rat. Focusing on the task at hand, he started chewing on the ropes that were binding the hostages, freeing them one at a time.

Cyborg couldn't see Beastboy from where he was kneeling and they would definitely see him if he got any closer. He was getting nervous as minutes passed and Beastboy still didn't reappear. _'Longer this situation drags out the better a chance it has to go completely to hell. If Beastboy doesn't show back up soon I'll have to do something myself.'_

He sighed in relief when a green fly flew out of the group of hostages and up a vent on the ceiling. Not fifteen seconds later Beastboy appeared beside him, grinning. Cyborg grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. "Dude, what the hell is wrong with you!? You don't take off like that without a plan, backup, or at the very least TELLING ME WHERE THE HELL YOU ARE GOING!"

Inside the store, one of the robbers looked up. "What the hell was that?"

Beastboy instantly got defensive, snaking, literally, out of his grasp and crossing his arms over his chest. "Dude, what the hell's wrong with you!? Don't you know that one of the first steps in a hostage situation is FREEING THE HOSTAGES?! SEE AS HOW YOUR BIG CLANKEN ASS ISN'T GOING TO SNEAK UP ON THEM, IT FELL TO ME TO DO IT!"

The robber circling the store looked around. "There it is again. What the hell is that?"

"STILL DOESN'T TELL ME WHY THE HELL YOU DIDN'T THINK TO AT LEAST TELL ME ABOUT IT GRASS STAIN!"

"Sounds like yelling, lets hurry things up. No reason to give our employer any reason to yell at us."

Beastboy visibly shrank in on himself at that, making Cyborg wonder if maybe he had gone a little too far. "I didn't…Stop being a hero just because I left the Doom Patrol. I learned out on the road the hard way that there is a certain order you do these things to best handle them. I…got used to handling things by myself. Sorry, I'm not exactly…used to the idea of being on a team yet."

Cyborg just sighed. "Its fine, I guess, as long as you don't let it happen again. It's just that-"

"Uh, Dude?"

Cyborg glared. "What?" "DUCK!" Beastboy yelled as he dove down. Cyborg looked to see that the robbers had come outside to see what the yelling was. Upon spotting them standing there on the street, Cyborg managed to hit the ground just as they opened fire.

**Earlier, with Robin and Starfire**

Things had started out easy enough, in Robin's opinion. They were just walking down the street, talking. Robin was telling Starfire the more important points of earth culture, while Starfire did her best to remember it all and at the same time telling Robin a few things about Tameranian (**Spelling?**) culture as a comparison. Of course, Starfire didn't notice all the stares given by the teenage male population of Jump City. But Robin did. Similarly, Robin didn't notice the stares courtesy of the teenage female population of Jump City. Starfire did but wisely choose to not comment.

Robin discovered that the alien's former attitude was a complete mask of her true self, built by her in an attempt to shield herself from getting hurt anymore, as apparently the circumstances that lead to the Gordanians getting a hold of her were rather…traumatic. Apparently, after they helped her, she thought that she could trust them well enough to let that mask fall. Of course, she didn't outright say any of this, but Robin was trained in the art of observation.

Starfire was enjoying herself. _'Earth is a most strange place. On Tameran it is acceptable for one to walk around in any state of dress. On Earth, what I am wearing is seen as teetering on the edge of unacceptable. Most strange.'_

Culture shock was putting it lightly.

As Robin continued to educate her, he became increasingly aware of the small following he was gaining, composed of people of all ages and both genders. He sighed. In his haste, he had taken the street and completely forgotten about the bane of all super heroes'. Fans. Bad thing was that it was 'unethical' to attack them as well as very bad for one's public image. He would just disappear and wait for them to disperse but that wasn't an option, seeing as they would more than likely just assault Starfire with questions for being associated with him.

"Starfire." He said quietly, getting the Tameranian's attention. "When I go, fly up into the air and follow me at a distance. When I stop, come down to me. Ok?"

"Friend Robin, what are you saying? I do not understand." Starfire said, thoroughly confused at this sudden change in behavior. Robin turned his head ever so slightly to the side, meeting her gaze and at the same time surveying the growing group following them. _'Any minute now, they'll pounce. Gotta move fast.' _His heart pounding fear of over enthusiastic/crazed fans was completely founded. They were the one enemy that could only be evaded but never confronted. If they got their hands on him in an uncontrolled encounter there was no telling what would happen.

One time, when he was caught in a mob by while he was on patrol with Batman, they kidnapped him. Batman did eventually find him two weeks later. They kept him drugged deeply so, while he wasn't conscious for any of it, they apparently "did everything imaginable to him and more, except removing his mask". Unfortunately, the perpetuators set it up where they could never be found or proven guilty, despite the combined efforts of both Batman and Robin. Forensic evidence taken from himself afterward gave him a pretty good idea of exactly what "everything imaginable" entailed and he was grateful that the kidnappers had the good sense to drug him before hand.

Even though that was a onetime event, they all seem to have perfected the art of taking his socks and boxers without removing his pants or boots while at the same time slipping various objects, things that would usually be of a personal nature to their former owners, such as underwear, into his pockets and utility belt compartments.

He was dead tired of being in the middle of a fight and reaching for where he kept his bird-a-rangs only to find some girl's underwear in there instead, with her name written on the waist band and her phone number written… somewhere else on it.

"Just trust me on this ok? Keep walking, don't show any sign of alarm. And most of all, don't look back."

Starfire frowned. "Why? Who is back there?" And then she did exactly what he told her not to do. She looked back. Robin found out the hard way that his fans knew their best chance at catching him was sneaking up on him so if they knew that he knew they were there they would dead rush him.

All at once, as soon as Starfire made eye contact with one of the blonds' in the group, they let out a shrill shriek and charged. Starfire, thoroughly startled, gave a shriek of her own and flew backwards and up, her arm hitting Robin in the process with enough force to knock him to the ground. Getting up and shaking his head, he had just enough time to look up before the group overcame him. Robin could feel various hands canvassing the length of his body, poking here or there but what scared the shit out of him was when he saw a hand approaching his face that was covered by a wet rag.

Starfire looked back, hearing a panicked scream coming from the boy-wonder's mouth and green gloved hand reaching toward heaven for help. Worried, she flew back down and grabbed it, which instantly went into a death grip on her hand. Flying up, she managed to use her super strength to pull him free, but only just. Never under estimate the power of crazed fandom.

Starfire pulled him along by one arm to a nearby rooftop, setting him down as gently as he could. The boy-wonder's once spiked hair was messed up and his face held an expression of terror. "T-h-a-nks Starfire." He said shakily.

"Oh, anytime dear friend!" Starfire said enthusiastically, giving him a bone crushing hug. Robin smiled weakly as he tried to catch his breath. Then their communicators rang and Robin gave exhausted sigh as he caught his breath and straightened his hair as well as his uniform. Turing on his communicator, Cyborg's face popped up on the screen.

"Just intercepted a 911 call; Robin, Starfire, there is a robbery in progress at a jewelry store near your location." Robin brow creased in a frown. "Gotcha, send the coordinates to our communicators and let the police know that we are taking care of it so they need to steer clear."

Turning off the communicator, he turned to Starfire. "Let's go."

**A few minutes later, at the jewelry store**

When they arrived, they found that all the hostages were tied up in the back of the store. There were three robbers. **(Same appearance as the last three.)** One was picking out jewelry, one was walking around the store, and the last one was guarding the hostages

Robin observed the situation silently as he crouched on the rooftop opposite the store, Starfire crouching next to him. For a second, he was lost in thought. _'I can't see any angle at where I can get at free the hostages without them seeing me. What can I do?'_ Robin stared at the scene unfolding in front of him, and then he got an idea. It was extremely risky and borderline insane. But the best plans always were. Quickly whispering the plan into Starfire's ear, she got a mischievous grin and nodded.

**In the store**

Things were progressing smoothly. Hostages tied up, money being collected, and best of all: no police repercussions. _'Guess boss wasn't lying when he said he was paid up with the right people.'_ Where the thoughts of one of the robbers. Then the lights went out. "Hey, what the hell happened to all the lights?" He asked, picking up the nearest hostage by his shirt and growled out "If any of you have anything to do with this, speak up now, or this kid dies!" He declared, putting the gun to the kid's head. "Dude, where the fuck is your head at? How would any of these pieces of shit be even able to cut the power?"

"He's right man." Said the third as he forced the first to put the kid down, then grabbed the robber and pulled him close and said in a whisper. "Besides man, we're not allowed to harm non-meta's without due cause, you know that. Boss's main rule, remember?"

As this was going on, none of them noticed at figure drop down from a vent on the ceiling, then hang there, suspended in the air. In the darkness, all that could be seen was a vaguely female humanoid figure and a pair of brightly glowing green eyes.

The figure let out a shrill screech, gaining the attention of all the inhabitants of the store. However, after the scream, the glow died out and with it the only light in the store, the figure becoming an unnoticeable shadow on the wall.

"W-ha-t t-h-e fuck was t-that?" Robber 1, formerly guarding the hostages. He was so distracted that he began backing up as if to get away from it, effectively getting next to the far back corner in the store, where a shadow dropped out on top of him, knocking him to the ground near silently.

"What the hell was that?" Asked Robber 2, formerly circling the store. He turned around when he heard a sound, only seeing a flash of green hit his chest before he too went flying back, groaning. Robber 3 decided to bolt and made it as far as the front door before a bird-a-rang came out of nowhere and hit his leg, tripping him.

Robin smirked, stepping out of the shadows of the store as Starfire flew down from the dark corner she had been hiding in. Heading over to the hostages, he pulled out a pocket knife, using it to cut the hostages free. "Are you all alright?" Robin called out in a commanding tone that prompted nods. Robin let a small smile show as Starfire beamed. "Head on home, we'll wrap things up here." At his word, they rushed out the door. Pulling out a pair of handcuffs, he cuffed the robber that he had taken out. Pulling out another pair, he headed to the robber that Starfire had knocked out only to find…nothing. "What?"

Looking outside to the robber that he tripped with a bird-a-rang, he again found…nothing.

Robin sighed when he felt the cold barrel of a gun against the back of his neck. He had been in this situation so many times it failed to faze him anymore "And here I thought this was going to be easy."

**With Orpheus and Raven, picking up from the last chapter**

Orpheus crouched; about to instinctively go intangible when a black shield suddenly materialized between him and the robbers, the bullets bouncing off it.

"You can't handle a few robbers with guns?" Said Raven as she walked up behind, eyes glowing white. Orpheus snorted, getting to his feet as he did so. "Look closer. They've got some kind of body armor on. I didn't expect that so I didn't hit hard enough." He eyed how the bullets ricocheted off the shield, still carrying enough power to bury themselves in the road and nearby buildings. Thankfully the street was abandoned. "I'm going to guess that those pistols aren't anything to laugh at either. I don't even want to know what those baton things would do to me."

Raven just sighed. "Typical." The firing suddenly stopped and Orpheus decided it was time to mount an offense. Jumping high over Raven's shield, he let out two one handed ghost fangs, aiming them for two of the robbers as he prepared to land on the chest of the third. Things didn't go as planned however, as two of the robbers dodged to the side easily and the last swung his baton in front of him, electricity dancing along its length. It hit him in the chest, hard, and the electricity coursed through him, causing his muscled to freeze up as he hit the ground, sparks still coming off him. Still recovering, he was unable to dodge the kick to the chest that sent him flying back and hit a wall hard enough to crack it. _'That kick felt like it would've broken the ribs of a normal human and that was through body armor. These guys…aren't normal."_

Raven, seeing how easily he had been downed, was getting worried and, mumbling her mantra the whole time, picked up a nearby newsstand and sent it flying at them at high speeds. It hit the one in straight on but only sent him reeling as the others just dodged again. The other two robbers ran at her, brandishing their batons before them. Robber 1 swung at her, the air whistling with the amount of force behind the baton. She managed to dodge but just by a hair. The other robber followed up with another swing, this one was blocked by a small horizontal black shield. Raven encased her fist in black energy and buried it into the gut of Robber 2. It only created a small dent in his armor but it did send him stumbling back. She then shot the energy out in a black bolt that hit the chest of Robber 1 and again made a small dent in the armor but sent him stumbling back as well.

By this time Orpheus was back up and sent a ghost ray at the back of Robber 3, only this one had twice the power of the last one. It both created a large dent in the armor on Robber 3's back as well as sending him flying, hitting the wall face first. When he fell back, the red visor of his helmet had been cracked.

Running forward, Orpheus did a back flip, kicking Robber 2 in the chin and sending him flying as Robber 1 got hit with another, stronger, bolt of black energy, this time it hit him straight in the face, sending him flying as well and cracking his visor as well.

Each and every one of the robber got back up, cracking their neck's as they did so. Orpheus sighed. "You guys just don't know when to stay down, do ya?" He questioned. These guys had been thrown around like rag dolls. Regular robbers would've been down and out after the first hit. _'Brute force doesn't seem to be working with these guys. What else have I got?'_

The robbers let out a growl as a response and, as one, charged forward. He responded with a two handed horizontal ghost fang but they just jumped over it. Orpheus jumped back as their batons slammed into the spot where he was just standing. A nearby car was engulfed in black energy and thrown at them. Orpheus got an idea and hit where he guessed the fuel tank would be with a ghost ray when the car was just inches from hitting the ground, causing it to explode. Fragments were blown everywhere but thankfully Orpheus managed to grab part of Raven's cloak and turned them both intangible.

Raven stared at the fire and pillar of black smoke that was in the middle of the street. "Don't you think that you went just a _little _bit too far?"

Orpheus just rolled his eyes, an act that was hidden by his goggles. Then frowned when he saw three figures rising in the smoke. "I'm thinking not far enough." Orpheus replied as he pointed to them.

Their armor was cracked in multiple places and was glowing red all over. For a second he wondered how they didn't get burned. Then he got an idea. _'If their armor can handle the heat so good'_ His eyes and hands lit up blue. _'Then let's see how it handles the cold!'_

Summoning as much cryoplasm to his hands as he could in one go, he put his hands together and let loose a beam of frosty blue energy directly at the duo, sweeping it up and down, side to side, to ensure maximum coverage. At first, steam erupted where the beam hit. Then ice covered it. In a matter of moments, the robbers, and their surroundings, were covered by a thick sheet of ice.

Orpheus slumped, going on one knee and punching the ground in exhaustion, head bowed. _'Haven't pushed my ice powers so hard since I last fought Undergrowth and that was easier because I could go ghost. Not anymore.'_

Raven glanced at the Titan. Slightly worried for his condition, although her face didn't show a thing. Then she heard a cracking sound. Turning, she saw cracks spreading along them until it broke, leaving no ice on them except a layer of frost spread evenly along them.

The robbers were a little discerned when they saw a smirk spread across the normally emotionless face of the girl meta-human. Why was she smirking you might ask? Well, she just remembered what happens to metal if you heat it rapidly, and then cool it just as fast. It gets _really _brittle.

Raven shot three bolts of black energy out, each hitting home in their chest, shattering the chest piece and sending them flying, the rest of the armor shattering into a thousand pieces as well on impact with the ground.

"Good job!" Orpheus said as he walked up behind her, fully recovered from before.

Raven eyed him before raising her black energy covered hands, causing multiple pieces of metal from the car to be engulfed in black energy and fly up into the air, and then it went toward the robbers, the pieces coming together to form a pair of handcuffs, the cracks sealing up as she finished.

Orpheus raised an eyebrow at the display but didn't comment. Walking forward, he grabbed the nearest one by the collar of the undershirt he had on under the armor and picked him up, slamming him against the wall. "Where did you get your stuff?"

The robber glared at him, struggling to get free from the makeshift handcuffs before spitting in his face. A faint green glow showing underneath his goggles, he smirked at the robber. "Have it your way." Turning intangible, he gave the robber a grim smile before diving into his body.

Raven stood there, motionless as she watched the three robbers, the one that Orpheus possessed having glowing green eyes. When the other two began yelling curses at her she ripped off a piece of their shirts and gagged them. About a minute after he possessed him Orpheus phased out of the robber, a disturbed look on his face. Before she could say anything he turned and phased into the second robber without a word. Coming back out not half a minute later, he phased into the last robber, again without a word and an increasingly disturbed look on his face.

When he came out not twenty seconds later, he looked at her, a disturbed borderline scared expression on his face. "What? What did you find?" She asked, wondering what could make a usually confident, if childish, person scared like that.

He looked at her, then past her as he walked forward, pausing to dial 911 on a nearby pay phone to get the police to pick up the robbers. "Robin's going to want to know about this."

**Later, back at the hotel room**

A battered Robin sat at the table, beside Cyborg, and opposite Orpheus. The boy-wonder's uniform was messed up, having a few cuts here and there, a smudge of dirt on one cheek and a small cut on the other. Cyborg was busy getting bullet sized dings out of the metal on his chest. Other than those two, everybody else looked normal. Beastboy was dozing on the couch; Starfire was playing with lipstick and fingernail polish, trying to figure out how to use the earthly beauty products while Raven was floating in a corner near the table, eyes closed in mediation. With the TV going on the news channel, Robin sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Ok, what do we know?"

"Whoever they are, there backed by people with a very large amount of power, money, and resources, not to mention very smart. I searched about every database out there, couldn't find any record of them whatsoever." Cyborg began. "Their technology was cutting edge. Those batons were designed to deliver a payload of a certain amount of electricity directly into the nervous system of the target to paralysis them. The guns were modified to have larger clips, better accuracy, and have more stopping power with less recoil. Neither of these are really that special. What really stands out is the armor. The armor itself was designed to protect them from almost anything, blunt force especially, not to mention the fact that it gave them a boost in strength and speed. The helmet had some sort of sensor neural uplink thing, boosting their reaction time. Fortunately, a human's brain isn't built to handle that sort of thing unless it's given to it the old fashioned way, through rigorous physical and mental training, so it only could do it in short bursts that would've done less and less as the fight went on."

"They were trained, regardless. From fighting them I could tell that much about them." Robin stated. "Orpheus, what did you get from inside their heads?"

Orpheus gave a frustrated groan before replying. "Just about as much as Cyborg did. Each one was just some petty low-life in random cities in America till a stranger wearing a black hoodie with the hood up, face mask, and sunglasses approaches them. Stranger gives them promises of grandeur and making it big in robbery and crime if they go along with him. When they agree they get knocked out by a hit to the head from behind. When they wake up there all together in a room somewhere. They never leave that room. They sleep, eat, and get trained in this one room. Guy wearing armor identical to theirs trains them in hand to hand combat, use of those batons and their guns, some strategy, and teamwork. There's no clock, calendar, or any other means of keeping time in the room so no way of saying how long they were in there. I estimated at least four or five months though. Then one day they go to sleep in the room and wake up and there in an abandoned with the stranger from before. He splits the nine of them up into teams of three and gives each team the armor, batons, guns, and a cell phone with instructions to use the baton to fry the phone first then smash it right before they start the robbery. He leaves. They don't leave the warehouse until he texts them the address of the place to rob. They go there. They wait ten minutes. He gives them the go. They fry them phones, then proceed to take over the stores and try to rob them. Then one of the hostages in each place manages to call 911. They take the phone and fire off a few rounds into the ceiling to show that their serious. And last we show up and stop them." Orpheus paused. "Almost seems like it was planned for them to be caught doesn't it?"

"How can you go in their heads and not get their names? Or anything on that symbol for that matter?" Robin questioned, frowning.

"Memory wise, there is only so far I can go into someone's memories. Everyone's mind works differently so how far back I can go in someone's memories varies person to person on how deeply their mind buries their memories. Some people I can go as far back as the first thing they saw or heard. Other people I can only see so far as what happened to them within the hour that I possessed them. With these nine I could only see as far back as a few moments before the stranger approached them. The stranger never asked for their names and told them to forget their names if they accepted, which they all obviously did and never asked, said, or gave their names after that point so I don't know their names. As for the symbol, they did ask about it. All the stranger would tell them was that it represented that they were a representative of "The Order"All they were told about it was that the Order was started a long time ago and recently it has found itself lacking the funds that it once had. From the stranger's exact wording he used it sounds like they just recently turned to criminal activities in order to 'regain their lost power' or something like that."

"Aw, man. Don't tell me that we just pissed off some big and powerful order that was trying to make some money on our first day as a team." Cyborg lamented. Robin frowned. "I don't think so."

"Why's that?" Cyborg asked. Robin frown deepened. "Think about it. They assault three different stores at the same time. Each one has a hostage call 911 but the police never respond, despite there being absolutely nothing else right now to have their attention. Each one just happens to be in the direct vicinity of where one of us just happened to be patrolling. From how much effort they put into making sure that they didn't know anything and that we don't have anything one them they wanted to make sure that if they were somehow taken into custody they wouldn't have anything that would cause any damage, which doesn't make sense seeing as a complete lack of a police response until we showed up at police headquarters indicates that there paid up with the right people."

"Or they could've been sent to fail." Orpheus said, gaining looks in the process. "Think about it. If the Order has the money to supply them and pay off the police then they could have the power to tap into cameras on the street, out of store's, anywhere in the city. That many cameras could track us anywhere in the city. And with the number of stores in the city, why choose the three that are closest to where two of us are? Their obviously well connected so they would've known about us and our deal with the mayor. If their intention was to make money, wouldn't they have made sure to rob places well away from any of us? Even if they wanted to confront us, the fight with the Gordanians more than proved that two of us were more than capable to take one three of them. Hell, forget that, wouldn't they have tried to go after something that would get them more money, like a bank? The combined money they would've gotten from all three robberies if they were successful wouldn't have covered how much they spent on equipping a single three man team, let alone all three teams of three."

"Your right." Robin said when Orpheus stopped for a breath. "Question is, why?"

"Maybe somebody in the Order lives in Jump City and wanted a better demonstration of just how capable we were so they made sure to set up some of their men for failure." Cyborg pondered.

"Maybe…" Orpheus mumbled. Robin shook his head "Either way, nothing we can do about it now." Robin growled, suddenly very angry.

"Why's that?" Orpheus asked. Robin pointed to the TV screen, where a plain looking guy with brown hair and a moustache was talking. "In other news, nine robbers that were caught by the city's newest protectors, the Teen Titans, earlier today have disappeared from their respective jail cells. Currently, the police have confessed to having no idea where they have gone. The chief of police saying "They just disappeared without a trace. We will investigate it, of course, but with nothing but DNA, fingerprints, and a face, all of which are turning up no records anywhere, as well as so little forensic evidence in the cells themselves it is very doubtful that any investigation will go anywhere and frankly, we have more important things to investigate anyway." In other news…" The news reporter began talking about the stock market which prompted Beastboy to wake up and turn it to a cartoon, instantly getting transfixed on the flat screen, earning simultaneous sweat drops from Cyborg, Robin, and Orpheus in the process.

"I guess I'll go by later and see what I can dig up from the scene…" Grumbled Robin as he pulled out his cell phone to call the police and get an update on the situation at the prison.

**In a dark room, unknown location**

A shadowed figure was looking at a TV above the far door, listening to the news report on the escaped robbers. He was sitting at a wooden desk with various papers scattered around on it and a silver colored laptop. Behind him was a grey colored wall, bare except for a large version of the symbol for the Order. The side walls were all covered by book cases.

Suddenly, the door opened and a black robed figure with the symbol for the Order on his back walked in, stopping before the desk and settling into a kneeling position. "My lord, we have successfully extracted the test subjects from the jail, leaving no evidence behind, just as you commanded."

"I am aware of that. How did they perform?" The shadowed asked, clicking a button on the desk to turn the TV off.

"Which group sir, the test subjects, or the Teen Titans?" The shadowed figure sighed at the question. "Both."

"The test subjects performed almost at the level that we expected, if a little under. Weaknesses were exposed in the armor. They are vulnerable at becoming brittle through intense heating then cooling. Also, as the alien and the cyborg have shown, a sufficient amount of force can be used to overwhelm the blunt force trauma absorbers built into the suit. Batman's apprentice has proved that overtime the reaction time enhancers fade in effectiveness, opening them up to weaknesses that can be exploited."

"And the Titans?" "The Titans themselves are a very diverse group. Together, they cover their most obvious weaknesses very well. Batman's apprentice is, as expected, very agile and can garner a surprising amount of force. He is very versatile and uses strategy and the environment more than brute force to overcome his opponents, making him a very intelligent and smart opponent. The cyborg is different. He lacks the agility and speed that the apprentice has but makes up for it with brute force that at is max is shown to be able to lift several tons. He has cannons in his arms as well as a multitude of other gadgets as well.

The alien is similar to that. She can fly at a fast enough speed to be a nuisance. Those 'starbolts' are shown to have considerable amount of force behind them and her strength is just above that of the cyborg. The changeling is rather unremarkable, able to change into any animal, dead or alive, at will. He has the potential to be a big threat but lacks the mental fortitude necessary to use his powers as effectively as possible in order to reach that level. The sorceress, in comparison to the others, is a bit of a black sheep. She, unlike the others, seems to prefer long range combat. She uses telekinesis, the limit of which is unknown, to attack from afar as well as bolts that are similar in nature to the aliens 'starbolts' and, although she seems to have little skill in hand to hand combat, she does seem to have considerable amount of strength, a little above that of a trained human at least.

And last is the one that calls himself 'Orpheus'. Out of all of them he seems to be the one that is the biggest threat as he has the ability to possess our men and extract memories from them. He can become untouchable, invisible, fire 'ghost rays' in a myriad of forms as well as cyrokinesis. Not to mention that his physical abilities are well above that of a trained human and, while not nearly as proficient as the apprentice, he has some hand to hand skill as well as considerable amount of strategy put into his fighting style, he seems to be holding back somewhat on his true powers.

All in all, together as a group, they cover each other's weaknesses and extenuate each other's strengths. The only thing they lack at this point is better teamwork and they would be near unstoppable sir."

"Hmm…" The shadowed figure mused. The black robed figure spoke up again. "Do you want us to make the necessary adjustments to the armor and commence with phase two sir?"

The shadowed figure shook his head. "No. Adjust the armor to compensate for the exposed weaknesses and begin work for the specialized units but do not move forward at all until I give the order to."

"Sir?" The black cloaked figure asked, confused. The shadowed figure turned to look at him, leaning forward to reveal a pair of smiling lips, marred only by a vertical scar on the left side.

"You forget that we are not the only players out on this field of ours. I would prefer to remain as ambiguous as possible. Besides, it's chess. We've made our move. It's only fair to give our opponents a chance to counter otherwise there's no fun in playing." The figure leaned back, once again getting shrouded in shadow. "At any point, I believe in giving a person a good chance at surviving. Let them live…for now. Let them take root and grow. After all, if the Titans are above the gods, then it means that whoever takes them down will powerful beyond understanding."

The black cloaked figure bowed deeply. "Yes, my lord. My deepest sincerest apologies for questioning you my lord."

He waved off his concerns. "It's fine. Questions are the best route to understanding and understanding is something I wish all would have." The shadowed figure gestured for the cloaked figure to leave. The cloaked figure got up and began to leave when the shadowed figure called for him to wait. "How is our newest inductee?"

"He is well, my lord. He is still having trouble getting used to not having a right eye or a right ear and rehabilitation with his right arm is going badly. At this rate he is going to need implants of some kind to be of any use to us at all. He didn't take the news well when we told him sir."

"He'll get used to the idea. If it comes down to it, do it or put him somewhere where he can be useful to our cause."

The cloaked figure nodded and bowed deeply. "Yes my lord."

**End chapter**

**Things are getting serious, it looks like… (You can tell when it's a serious chapter because I'm not having fun with the line breaks like I usually do)**

**As said above, please vote in the poll open on my profile page to let me know where you stand on the harem idea.**

**Review! (But don't spam please)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Review Reply Time!**

Weirdo: **It's all good and thanks.**

The Virus: **True. And you can try to infect me, I have virus protection. **

Warlord: **It will be interesting. Do me a favor and check your spelling and grammar next time though, ok?**

coldblue: **Thanks! Try and get an account if you can, I can see that you have a lot to say about the story and I'd like to discuss it further. I didn't say that Blackfire was out; I said that she was EXTREMELY unlikely. But not out. As for your questions, no the Order is completely OC. Yes he will get more powers, eventually. Yes, the Titans will be stronger than they are canon but it will take a while. **

Guest: **As a guest I don't think you can but go ahead and try!**

Guest (**The other one): Argent? Not really familiar with her to tell you the truth. I'll look her up and get back with you.**

coldblue: **If there's no other choice, yes he will. Yes he will. I have many plans. And yes. That's all I'm telling you. **

Sparxthehdgehog: **So that's what that is. I can't make any promises about keeping it DC. Line break gags… will make a comeback in the next non-serious "Silly" chapter that I have but for now it'll be short and sweet.**

**Currently for lead is "Be happy and read" with 12 votes and "Be angry but give the story a chance" at 10 votes. In third is "Not feel one way or another" with six votes and last is "Be furious and stop reading or reviewing" with five votes (I was hoping "Be furious" wouldn't get any votes at all but oh well, I'm sorry that there is the chance that I will lose five readers ****)**

**Keep in mind that the poll doesn't decide if a harem will happen. It's just the easiest way to see and keep track of what others think about the idea. In the end, whether or not a harem happens has yet to be decided and will be determined by a combination of the poll results, how the story develops, and by my own feelings on the subject (Which are subject to change constantly. If you feel you can convince me for or against a harem in a way that doesn't sound insulting then I invite you to try and do so.)**

**I apologize to all that I may have offended in relation to the harem idea, be it by posting in a chapter or review replies. I also apologize to all that I have **_**not **_**offended. Please be patient. I will get to you shortly. (^-^)**

**There's been some editing in the other 9 chapters. Nothing much, just some things here or there. Check it out if you want.**

**Another thing: There is a reference to something not DC or Marvel or OC in this chapter The first two people to tell me what that reference is and where it is in the chapter get's to submit their very own Original Character which will make an appearance in the next chapter! I need name, possible nicknames, age, appearance, powers (If any, they don't have to have any powers), education, back story, and anything else about them. Keep in mind that any details about the characters that you don't fill in will be filled by me.**

**See chapter one for the disclaimer. (Why does almost every author do a disclaimer? By the title of this site alone, it clarifies that everything on here is fiction, made by fans for their reading enjoyment. Plus, to date I've never heard of an author on here making money from their writings so way?)**

**On with the show!**

**Chapter 10**

The two weeks went by quickly and before anybody knew it the tower was, for the most part, finished. It still had to be furnished but that could be done easily enough. The entire team had gathered on the roof to watch the sunrise together, an unofficial ceremony they partook in to mark the first day as a true team.

It had been a tough two weeks. Long brutal patrols, then coming home and going to rest and try to get used to the idea that you now had five other people to deal with and get used to on a regular basis. Orpheus learned the hard way just _how _long it took Robin to gel and fix his hair into spikes in the morning. (And on a related note, Robin learned that taking too long in the bath room for any reason equals all the water suddenly going icy cold) _Everybody_ learned, especially Beastboy, that when Raven told you to leave her alone, it meant leave her the hell alone _right now_ or suffer the consequences. Other than that, they got along fairly well. Except, of course, when they were deciding what to get to eat. That, however, was a story for another time.

At the end of the week, it turned out that, together, they managed to lower the crime rate by 15%. Apparently that was a big accomplishment, as, according to Robin, Batman only managed to lower it 8% when he was just starting out, adding another 4% when Robin joined him.

"I think the biggest thing is our numbers" Robin had said when he got the rally. "Six heroes are a lot more than two. Plus, there's the fact that I'm heading it, giving the team a connection to Batman, however strained. His presence in Gotham is the reason that the only criminals that are still in or operating in Gotham are the utterly insane ones."

As the sun rose over the horizon, there was a feeling of peace. It was that special time, a time where everybody was just waking up. There were no fires, no crimes. Not even the sounds of horns honking, tires screeching, people yelling or other sounds associated with city life. Just the sound of the waves crashing against the shore of their small island and the whistle of the wind. As they stood there on the roof, observing all this, a small smile shared on their faces and a feeling of content spread among them. Absolute peace.

Then a large, drawn out, wet sounding, farting sound emanated from one of them. "Dude!" Cyborg exclaimed, pinching his nose, an action that was mimicked by all the other Titan's, save Beastboy, who blushed and grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head with his hand as the other's edged away from him and the smell.

Orpheus groaned. "My god man, what the hell did you eat?" Beastboy blush deepened as he mumbled something under his breath that sound suspiciously like "beans".

After everyone was far enough away from the smell (And Beastboy) where they couldn't smell it anymore, and after the sun had finished rising, Robin nodded, having decided what they were going to do for the day.

"Ok then, only thing left to do is finish up with tower and we'll be done for now" Robin stated, more to himself than the others.

"Aw, come on!" Beastboy whined. "I thought we _were_ finished! Haven't we done enough already?" And it was true. On the second to the last day of the week, a virus had made its way onto one of the robots and, from there, spread like wild fire onto all the others. The program itself was designed to turn the robots into killer robots. Fortunately, due to the virus's earthly origin and the robots alien technology, it was nowhere near as effective as it should have been. Instead of turning them into killer robots, it caused erratic behavior in the robots and made a change in their digital blueprints of what to build.

Unfortunately, nobody noticed the changes until almost too late. Fortunately, Cyborg did notice. He shutdown the robots, being unable to be sure that the virus was off of it completely and unable to find out where it came. The damage was done but, with a rather unique change in the original design and taking Cyborg off of patrol permanently to work on the tower alongside whoever wasn't on patrol or sleeping, the tower was finished on time and the design was made to work anyway. Now, instead of a regular shaped tower, they now had a tower shaped like a T. **(AN 1)**

"It looks better than your original design anyway, trust me." Robin assured the half metal teen when Cyborg told him the story. "Although it's deeply disturbing that someone was able to put a virus on there in untraceably. Or that someone had a motive to this early in the game."

They had actually been forced to work throughout the night in order to finish on time. Apparently, Robin went back to the Mayor at some point in the week and told him the same thing Cyborg told him and it "would look very bad if we failed to meet a deadline we ourselves set". Which meant that they _had_ to ensure that the tower was finished on time.

With everybody working together, it wasn't _that_ bad. Starfire was able to carry most of anything that they needed to use without help, Raven was able to use her magic as a 'bonder' of sorts, able to seal together the cracks in different parts of the building just like a welding torch, only more effective in that her method left fewer marks. Cyborg was handling the things that took knowledge to do, such as the plumbing and electricity, among other things. The rest of the team wasn't as useful, Orpheus being subjected to moving around the things that were heavy enough that Robin couldn't carry them but so light that it was a waste of time for anyone much stronger to move it, Beastboy doing the same thing. Robin just moved what he could and coordinated the rest of them.

It was a good thing that the only thing that the robots hadn't finished before going haywire was the roof; otherwise it would've taken them another week. Now the only thing that had to be finished was the interior of the tower itself, as the plumbing, electricity was finished. Furniture, painting, interior decorations, and things like that.

"Should take about three days, five at the most, if everybody pitches in and we hurry." Robin said to them.

"What about patrol?" Orpheus asked. Cyborg smirked.

"The police gave me access to their police dispatcher and 911 lines as well as, along with several others, access to their cameras and microphones, among other things. I wrote a program to monitor all these, as well as a few that didn't give me access, and set it to be able to recognize when someone was breaking the law, who's breaking the law if there in the criminal or meta-human database, where they were doing it, and the police, for whatever reason, wasn't responding to it." Cyborg held his arm up for them to see. "As soon as it happens, my program will see it and send me an alarm about it."

"It's a start, but it doesn't beat actually being there in the first place." Robin said, grimacing.

"And am I right in guessing that it's still not completely effective?" Orpheus asked, turning his head to look at Cyborg, who frowned at the secret halfa. Even thought Orpheus had, for the most part, answered all of his questions, there was still something about the enigmatic teen that was a bit… disturbing.

_*Flashback*_

_Two figures stood as still as statues on the edge of a rooftop, the sun behind them blinding anybody on the ground who attempted to figure out who they were. If you were on eye level, you'd see that the two were none other than Cyborg and Orpheus._

_It was the first time that the two of them were on patrol together, as most of the time Cyborg was either working on the tower, or paired with Beastboy. The two had stopped for a break, mostly because it was harder on Cyborg to jump from rooftops than it was on Orpheus, being that he was lifting a lot more weight with each jump than Orpheus was._

"_So Orpheus…" Began Cyborg in an attempt to break the awkward silence that had settled over the pair. In an attempt to create conversation, he had asked Orpheus about his parent's line of work. Unfortunately for Cyborg, the first thing that came out of his mouth after Orpheus answered his question was "Ghosts don't exist". This marked the start of an argument that lasted several minutes, Orpheus spouting out experiment after experiment done by somebody named "Fenton", each of which supposedly proved that ghosts existed, and Cyborg citing reasons why they didn't prove anything, which greatly angered Orpheus. _

_At last Orpheus realized that no matter what he said, Cyborg simply refused to believe that ghosts existed._ **(AN 2)**_ Thus he stopped trying to convince him and started the awkward silence that was between them. Now Cyborg was getting a little uncomfortable with the silence and sought something to get the grey cloaked hero into conversation._

"_Can I ask you a question?" Cyborg said after call out the black haired teen. He received a cautious nod in response. Sighing, he remained quiet for a moment, trying to figure out how to phrase his question in a way that stood the least chance in offending his teammate before deciding to just come out with it._

"_Why are your vitals so different from any other humans?" Cyborg asked as bluntly as possible._

_Orpheus raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" Cyborg frowned, trying to find what words he could best put it in to ensure that he understood, then decided to just tell him anyways._

"_First off, your core temperature is WAY too low. Seriously, if you weren't walking around looking completely healthy and everything, I'd think you were half dead or something from hypothermia" When he 'half dead' he failed to notice the slightly nervous expression that appeared on Orpheus's face. Cyborg continued anyway. "Second is your heartbeat. It's beating faster than it should. A lot faster. As in borderline heart attack fast. What makes that really bad is that you're not even breathing on the level that would be normal for someone of your size, much less to keep up on the level that your heart is breathing. But…"_

_He paused for a second to see Orpheus's reaction. If he was surprised, he didn't show it. Cyborg decided to continue on anyways. "The most surprising thing is that you actually give off your own energy signature." This time he caught a surprised look. Satisfied, Cyborg continued. "Granted, it's very faint, but it's there. The surprising thing is that, for some reason, my sensors are telling me that it's being suppressed, although I can't think of how or why. I don't suppose you could explain any of that?"_

_Orpheus remained silent for a moment. Then, in a slow cautious tone, he began to speak. "What you said about my heart and breathing and everything I actually had no idea about. Good to know though. The lower core temperature thing, I kind of had an idea about that part when I realized that the cold didn't affect me as much anymore. As for then energy signature thing, I kind of guessed about that part too, given my own talent with energy manipulation." To emphasize the point, he lit up his hand green for a few seconds, causing his energy signature to spike in relation to it. When he let the green energy fade from his hand and he didn't elaborate further, Cyborg remained silent for a second, thinking over what he said, then realized something._

"_What about the whole 'suppressed' thing?" As soon as he asked he knew he had made a mistake as Orpheus frown deepened and he had a feeling that, if he could see them, he would feel like Orpheus eyes were narrowing at him. The uneasily silence returned, except that it was twice as stifling as before. It seemed like that they would just sit there forever and Cyborg was about to just tell Orpheus to forget it until he spoke. "Because I'm holding back."_

_Cyborg frowned. "Holding back on what, your powers?" When he received a nod, he frowned again. He knew that it would probably be a big mistake to ask why but he couldn't stop himself. "Why?"_

_Orpheus looked away, as if ashamed. In a voice barely above a whisper, he answered. "Because my full power is dangerous."_

"_For you or the people around you?"_

"_For everybody."_

_*End Flashback*_

They hadn't moved again until their patrol was over. They didn't speak again until the next day. And they just now made eye contact. It wasn't that they hated each other, just uncomfortable. Orpheus was wondering why he told Cyborg all that and hoping that he forgot about the Fenton experiments. It wouldn't do for Cyborg to look them up, realize that he had more information than was publically available, see that the Fenton's had a son and put two and two together. But he was more worried about what Cyborg would do with the information that his full power was dangerous.

"There's always room for improvement, I suppose." Cyborg had said as neutrally as possible. Honesty, he was a little unnerved that someone could have powers that hurt not only them but everybody around them. _'From the look on his face after he told me, he didn't mean to tell me either. Wonder why he did. What should I do? I don't think I should keep this to myself, but I just can't go telling secrets to anybody that wants to know.'_

While Cyborg was pondering what to do, he barely noticed that Robin began speaking again.

"That may be, but it'll have to do for now. Right now, we need to focus on finishing the tower." Robin said, pausing to make sure that they were all paying attention, slapping Beastboy on the back of the head when he found him day dreaming.

"Ow! Dude, what the hell?" Beastboy complained, rubbing the back of his head. "Why'd you hit me on the back of the head?"

"Got your attention, didn't it?" Robin smirked. "Beside, slapping the front is just embarrassing. Back is a wakeup call."

"Something Batman taught you?" Orpheus questioned Robin, both of them ignoring Beastboy's cry of outrage. The boy wonder in question nodded.

"Yeah, he told me he learned it from seeing the technique used by some federal agent he worked with on a case this one time. Said that the agent used it to keep his subordinates in line and focused." Robin seemed to be reminiscing for a moment before he shook his head, getting back to the topic. "Anyway, back to the topic at hand. You'll be responsible for handling your own bedrooms, and Orpheus? You will be responsible for anything you need for your lab on top of everything else."

From seemingly out of nowhere, he produced a detailed list of assignments. The plan was for each person to get the paint, furniture, and anything else that would be needed for each room and put it in the room that it would be needed. Then Beastboy would turn into an octopus and use his many arms to help whoever was assigned that room with painting and any other decorations. Later, after the paint dried, Robin and Cyborg would go back to arrange the furniture as well as do anything else that needed to be done and the room would be done. Apparently the tower was divided up so that each person had more than a few rooms to do.

"This is gonna take a while so we better get started." Robin said. "We need to have everything done by the end of the day, so if you feel like you can't get your part done in time, don't hesitate to ask for help."

**We interrupt this story to give you this line break. Wait, reread this line a few times, and then continue reading. Have a great day.**

Orpheus rubbed his shoulders, grimacing. An equally sore Robin sitting on the couch opposite him. They were the only ones in the room, as Cyborg had retired to recharge his batteries, Starfire and Beastboy were sleeping, and Raven was on the roof, meditating, even though night had already fallen.

It had quite literally taken all day and well into the night to finish but they were done. Robin had already preordered all the furniture, paint, and anything else they needed so the only thing they needed to do was get from the various warehouses and stores from around the city, move it to the room it would go in, paint and arrange everything, and they would be done.

The only room that wasn't complete was Orpheus's lab, and that was just because most of the materials, and chemical's he needed to get started with building his parent's inventions had a lot of legal red tape to go through first if he wanted to obtain it legally. _'And I sure as hell don't want to attract any attention obtaining them illegally.'_ Orpheus thought bitterly as he got up from the couch, mumbled a "good bye" to Robin, who nodded, getting up himself. Heading to their respective rooms, Robin nodded to him before going into his room. Orpheus sighed in exhaustion before going into his own room.

After the door slid closed behind him, he channeled some ectoplasmic energy to his hood and goggles, the hood falling down and the goggles loosening to slide down around his neck. He looked around his room, pleased with the amount of work he managed to get done in one day. His room had grey painted walls with a green trim. His bed was in the far right corner of the room, with small nightstands with a lamps sitting on both sides. The bed was in the shape of a circle, with deep blue covers, with a green inside, complete with white pillows that, ironically, had green little ghosts on them with red eyes. _'The others were certainly weirded out when they saw me carry those pillow covers in.'_ Orpheus thought with a chuckle. The ceiling was decorated with stars in the form of constellations, with little model rockets hanging from the ceiling. On the right when entering the room there was a door that lead to his bathroom, next to it was his closet and dresser, closet hidden in an indent in the wall which was covered by a black curtain.

A full body mirror was mounted in the front right corner of the room, perpendicular to the door to his bathroom. On the left was a bookcase, half full of books that he's picked out. Next to that was a desk, complete with a desktop computer, drawers, and a chair. The wall opposite the door was all glass; albeit very thick and bullet resistant glass. On the right side of his desk, hidden in the wall and impossible to find unless you could become intangible and knew where it was, were a few switches. The first would cause the glass to darken and undarken, turning the glass into a one sided mirror and back into a regular window with a switch. One would cause the glass to slide away, leaving the wall open. Another would slide a screen up over the opening. The last would cause a metal plate to slide down over the window.

The shrinking chest that Nick had given him now contained items of a more personal nature to him and was hidden in a secret compartment underneath his bed.

Going to his closet, he pulled the curtain and took out an oversized grey hoodie and matching sweat pants. He carried it into the bathroom with him, shutting the door behind him. Walking in on the white tile floor, he set his sleeping clothes on the counter. He emptied his pockets out, putting the Titan communicator, his wallet, and a pack of gum, along with a few other miscellaneous, on the counter.

Stripping down until he was wearing nothing except his Wes ring that was around his neck on the same chain as his DP locket chain and Time medallion, he put his entire costume, save his shoes, belt, and goggles which he also put on the counter, into a dirty clothes hamper.

He looked at himself, face twisting into a scowl that was mixed with a grimace as he surveyed the amount of scars that he had gained over the years. Some were from his career as a hero, from wounds sustained in combat. Others were from the after effects of living with two inventors, from accidents and the like. But now almost all of them were from the GIW. They were different from the others, like the one that started at his shoulders and went down diagonally, uniting at his chest and then continued going down, creating a Y shape.

He used to not mind the scars. They were like a record book, in his eyes, kept on his very skin. Like a small circular burn scar on his hand from that time that he accidentally shot himself with a low power laser. Or a small, almost invisible, cut on his arm from that time he'd been playing in the lab and cut his arm on a sharp piece of metal. They reminded him of a different time. A carefree time. When he didn't have to worry about keeping all his limbs visible and tangible or when playing in the lab could lead to a ghost detecting device going off around him.

Even after he got his ghost powers, he didn't hate the scars he gained ghost fighting. They too, were records. They were records of battles. Battles won, battles lost, either way, it was experience gained. With each one it showed that he was getting better, stronger. Never making the same mistake twice, constantly getting better with his powers. They were almost, in a strange sense of the word, trophies.

No more. Now they were mostly permanent reminders of what he had lost. The scars that he couldn't remember getting were reminders that his mind was still incomplete. The scars he could remember were records of agonizing pain that should've killed him. An interesting fact was that, when he healed, his scar tissue was stronger than it should have been. More resistant to any future damage. Broken bones were the same way. _'I guess that old saying is true, for me at least.'_

"What doesn't kill me makes me stronger." He said quietly as he looked at his chest, now a mass of scars.

He took a long, hot shower, the steaming water hitting his skin doing wonders for his sore muscles. Drying himself off with a towel, he dressed himself in the hoodie and sweat pants, grabbed his goggles, belt, and shoes, putting his communicator and all the other stuff on the counter in the bathroom in his pocket and walked out of the bathroom, clean, dry, and barefoot.

He put the belt, goggles, and shoes in the closet, and then re-emptied out his pockets, this time putting everything on the dresser. Walking over to the window, he stood there, hands crossed over his chest as he looked out over the city.

Suddenly he heard footsteps behind him. He tensed discreetly, only to relax when he heard a voice call out that he recognized.

"Nice room." Nick said, walking up to stand beside him.

"Thanks." Danny replied, turning to look at him. "Just finished it today. But I don't think you came here to compliment me on my decorating skills."

"Why are you always so straight to the point?" Nick complained. "Getting a taste for a little theatrics can be a powerful tool. Look at Batman. Every criminal in Gotham shakes in fear whenever they put that Bat signal in the sky, hoping it isn't them their calling Batman to take care of."

Danny sighed. "I know a ghost who's so into having a 'symbol' he refuses to use his telekinesis on anything that isn't a box. Another one who insisted on shouting out his entire plan before attacking. Both of them were never a real threat." He looked back at the window. "I think I'll do without the theatrics for now."

"True enough." Nick said, glancing at him. "Then again, your right." He walked away from the window. When Danny turned to see where he had gone, he was sitting at his desk. "I've taken the liberty of fine tuning the security on your computer. Your cybernetic friend will be hard pressed to get anything from it now."

"Did you see those pictures of that symbol I took with the goggles?" Danny questioned, receiving a nod.

"I put them on a flash drive along with the pictures of those men in armor. What's that symbol from?"

"A group that calls themselves 'The Order'." Danny replied. "I don't suppose that I could convince you to look into it for me, could I?" He asked rhetorically.

"I'll see what I can do." Nick said casually, and then he reached into his pocket, producing a small rectangular metal case, just a little bit bigger than the Titan communicator, and tossed it to Danny. He was surprised, but he caught it anyway. "What's this?"

"I'm a busy man." Nick began. "I can't stay in the area here just to help you out in case you need it and nor can I spar an agent to do so in my place. That is a special communicator, with a direct line to my agency."

Danny turned it over, feeling where there were places one could connect various different objects as well as more than a few buttons. Flipping it open, he found a video screen on one side and a touch screen on the other side. He raised an eyebrow at Nick.

"You can use it to communicate, but it can also send files and pictures, make untraceable telephone calls, and a host of other things." Nick said. "This is the best I can do for now, I'm afraid."

"It'll do." Danny replied, putting the special communicator right next to his Titan communicator on the dresser. "Is there anything you can do regarding me getting the stuff I need to make some ghost hunting gear?"

Nick shrugged. "I can make sure that they put a rush on the paperwork but anything more will look suspicious."

"Good enough, I suppose." Danny conceded. Walking over to the wall, he made his hand intangible, flipping a switch hidden inside the wall, causing the glass to slide away. Pointing to the opening in the wall, he looked Nick straight in the eyes. "I'm dead tired now, so I need you to get the hell out."

'_Is it just me, or does this kid have mood swings like crazy?'_ Nick thought, pressing a button on the watch on his wrist. A jet black helicopter flew up from out of nowhere, the bottom of it leveling with the floor as a door opened up. Nick smirked at him as he stepped into. The helicopter began to rise as Nick waved goodbye and closed the door to the helicopter.

Danny just shook his head as the helicopter disappeared. He flipped a switch in the wall, causing the window to slide closed. Collapsing on the bed, his last thoughts before going to sleep were _'Things are looking up.'_

_**Dream/Nightmare/Flashback**_

_Danny was curled up in the corner, hands holding his legs against his chest, and head resting on his knees. He found that the best way to speed up the healing process after they cut him up was to put pressure on the spot that they cut, and move as little as possible so that most of his energy could go to healing. Sleeping was best but whenever he looked like he was nodding off, they would flash the lights to wake them up. When he started to get used to it they would send a few agents in to knock him around to make sure he couldn't sleep._

_Right now he was in a quiet period. The small bits of time between torture sessions that they gave him so that he could heal, somewhat, so that the next torture session wouldn't actually kill him. It taxed his superhuman healing to the very limit, but it was effective. It allowed them to keep him on or near the brink of full death almost constantly, only letting up when it seemed like he was about to die and, if he made them angry, sometimes not even then._

_A quiet period meant a few things. One, it could end at any time. And when it ended, it was almost certainly time for another torture session. Two, it meant that they had a new gauntlet of poisons to try on him, usually administered in food that was more poison than food. Or three, they had a new range of experiments/torture techniques that carried with them a higher risk of death than normal and they wanted him to be near full health before they tried it on him. After all, if he died, the he would most likely reform in the Ghost Zone, a place that was beyond their reach. Of course, there was a good chance that, thanks to his unique physical makeup, that he would just reform a little ways away from his body and the torture would continue._

_But the GIW were of the opinion that he would reform in the Ghost Zone, and that was the sole reason that saved him from the GIW more….deadly experiments. The thought that they were holding back was something that he knew would haunt him for the rest of his life._

'I can't take this.'_ Danny thought._' Not anymore. If I stay here, it'll kill me.' _It was in that exact instant that he decided that he couldn't wait for his parents to come back. He had heard that his parents had gotten away in their jet when they tried to free him. _'The only ones'_ He thought bitterly. He had heard nothing about Tucker's or Jazz's fate. They were probably dead. Sam didn't get away. _

_She remained because she wanted to. She remained to become his main torturer. His former love became a torturer's assistant. She turned up the dial whenever their method was electricity. She held the knife when they were carving him up, under the guidance of a physician. It truly was a messed up world when his high school sweetheart had to have a GIW doctor look over her shoulder to make sure that she didn't kill him in her enthusiasm to prove her loyalty to them._

_But then…it wasn't her fault. And he knew why. Out of all the things that the GIW have done, what they did to Sam would be, in his eyes and in the eyes of many others, their greatest crime._

_He couldn't stay here any longer. Already, he could literally feel his already fragile consciousness breaking slowly. The barrier between reality and fantasy was breaking down. He had to escape before it shattered completely._

_**End Dream/Nightmare/Flashback_**

Danny woke up in a sweat, panting. It was a good thing that, while Cyborg wasn't looking, he had made his room sound proof so that he didn't wake anyone up if he ending up screaming at some point in the night.

He could still hear what was going on outside his room strangely. He knew that for sure when he heard the alarms going off and the red light above the door began to flash on and off. _'Time to go to work I guess.'_ He grumbled, annoyed that he probably wouldn't get much of a chance to eat breakfast because some villain couldn't wait until noon to start their 'master plan'.

**1001 Way To Die: Misunderstanding this Line Break XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO**

Orpheus strolled out of his room purposely and into the Main Operations room, as it said on the door or, simply, the Ops room. Robin, Raven, and Starfire were already there, and Cyborg dragged in a half-asleep Beastboy a few moments after he entered.

Robin was typing in the main computer, with Starfire and Raven standing on either side of him. Cyborg had set a now sleeping Beastboy down on the ground and was now poking him with a stick in an attempt to rouse him. Orpheus just stood off to the side with his arms crossed over his chest, observing the scene silently. _'So…this is my team? From the outside looking in we don't look like much but then again, underestimation is a grave mistake, one my enemies made often.'_

"Titans, somebody named Cinderblock is breaking into the prison. Let's go!" Robin called, running out the door, the rest of the Titans trailing behind him with a fully awake Beastboy.

When they were outside the tower, Robin was prepared to jump into the bay, remembering that the tunnels that they were going to build to connect the city to them so that people who couldn't fly didn't have to swim or take a boat there weren't finished, and swim to shore only to get picked up by the undersides of his arms at the last minute and lifted off into the air. Looking up, he saw that it was Starfire who had picked him up. She flashed him a dazzling smile. "Please, Friend Robin, while I am still mostly unfamiliar with Earth's environment, will this way not be faster?"

A little miffed that he hadn't thought of that, he nodded.

Beastboy looked at Cyborg. Cyborg looked at Beastboy. Beastboy turned into Pteranodon. He flapped his wings and held out his claws toward Cyborg. Cyborg sighed, and then nodded, raising his arms. Beastboy grabbed onto Cyborg's arms with his claws and easily lifted the metal man into the air and after the shrinking dot in the sky that was Starfire and Robin.

Orpheus turned to see that Raven was looking at him. He smiled sheepishly, one hand going to rub the back of his head. "Uh, Raven? I don't suppose you'd mind…uh…" He trailed off, not sure how to ask in light of the glare he was receiving. Raven started to fly up after the rest of the team, causing Orpheus to sigh. "Guess I get to swim."

He started forward, about to jump into bay, until he began rising, causing him to let out a yell of surprise and began thrashing his arms and legs in an attempt to free himself as the ground got farther and farther away.

"Do you want to fall from here?" Raven said, her usual emotionless voice expressing deep seated annoyance as he suddenly realized he was next to her in the air, both of them flying a little ways behind the others.

"Stop thrashing, you're making it harder to keep a hold of you." She chastened. He looked at her, realizing that her eyes were glowing white. Looking at himself, he realized that he was covered in an aura of black energy. He relaxed, straightening his arms and legs out as if he were standing. If Raven noticed, she didn't say anything, but he did notice that they did speed up considerably.

They traveled like that for quite little while, the prison being on the opposite side of the city from the tower. They made great time though, coming to be just above the prison as the rock monster known as Cinderblock busted through one of the walls of the inner part of the prison, stopping when the guards opened fire on him with some kind of laser weapons.

Robin pointed to the main compound. "That's where he's headed. Orpheus, can you get us in there discreetly so that we can get ambush him?" Orpheus just gave him a look that said 'Bitch Please!'

"Set everybody down on the far side of the compound." Orpheus commanded. After touching down, he nodded to himself. "Everybody hold hands." After they complied, he turned himself and the rest of the team both intangible and invisible, walking straight through the wall just as Cinderblock stomped in the room. He dropped the intangibility but held the invisibility.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to feeling like that." Mumbled Cyborg.

"Ditto." Beastboy said, looking queasy. (That is, if he was visible) Starfire nodded invisibly in agreement as Robin hushed them.

Cinderblock made it halfway across the room before Robin signaled him to drop both the intangibility and invisibly. Loudly, Beastboy announced their presence. "Ya know Cinderblock; normally villains try to break _out_ of prison!"

"And I can think of six good reasons why you wouldn't want to break in!" Robin declared, jumping down to be on the same level as Cinderblock

"One!" Robin yelled when he hit the floor.

Starfire flew down to the floor, landing in a combat stance, hands lit up with energy. "Two!"

Beastboy turned into a tiger and dropped down to the floor, changing back with a determined look on his face. "Three!"

Raven flew down, cloak billowing about her. She held up four fingers. "Four."

Cyborg jumped down, punching the ground and landing in a crouch before going to his full height. "Five!"

Orpheus dropped his invisibility as slowly as possible, arms crossed over his chest, an impassive look on his face. "Six."

"No matter how you do the math…" Robin said, narrowing his eyes. "It all adds up to you going down. So are you going to come quietly…?"

"Or is this going to get loud?!" Cyborg finished for him.

Orpheus gave a borderline insane grin. "Please choose 'loud'. It's a hell of a lot more fun!"

Cinderblock answered with an angry yell, charging forward.

"Titan's go!" Robin yelled as a battle cry, running forward. Jumping into the air, he used Cinderblock's chest as a jumping board, sending Cinderblock stumbling back and straight in a powerful starbolt from Starfire.

Reeling from it, he sent a titanic punch at Orpheus only to be intercepted by Cyborg jumping over him and meeting the rock monster's punch with one of his own.

Activating the shocking knuckles in his gloves, he let loose on the stone villain, sending flurry punches straight into his torso, and each blow sent him skidding back a little. Orpheus smirked; about to end it with a kick to villain's chin when it went wrong. For him at least. For Cinderblock, it was going better than it was a few minutes when he was getting punched.

Cinderblock managed to catch one of his punches, enclosing his entire fist in his stone hand. The rocky villain gave him an evil grin. Fortunately, he didn't have the brains to think to crush his hand and most of his arm in his grip. Unfortunately, he did have the motive to lift him up in the air.

"Hey!" Orpheus yelled, using his feet to push against Cinderblock's chest in an attempt to free himself. "Let me go!" Turning intangible and invisible, he watched with satisfaction as Cinderblock looked around, confused at where is quarry had gone and completely forgetting about his other opponents. That is, until Raven used her magic to rip up a piece of concrete and launch it at the stone man's back, the concrete breaking apart on impact.

Cinderblock roared, charging toward the blue clad sorceress, who flew up and out of his reach. He swiped at her in frustration, seemingly unable to comprehend that she was out of reach, only to get slammed by a green T Rex and sent flying.

Beastboy, as a T Rex, roared and charged Cinderblock a second time. Cinderblock punched his head, sending him flying back and almost crushing Raven. Luckily, he turned back human before impact, settling for sending them both to the ground. Getting up, Beastboy chuckled nervously at Raven carefully blank expression. "Uhhh… watch out for falling dinosaurs?" He joked. Raven just blowed a strand of hair out of her face, radiating annoyance. "I'm going to leave you alone now."

As one, Robin and Cyborg charged at Cinderblock, only to get knocked back by a swipe from Cinderblock. Starfire let off a few close range starbolts directly in his face. Angered, Cinderblock reached out and managed to grab the friendly Tameranan. He brought the redhead close to his face, smirking. In that moment, you could almost feel pity from the other Titan's.

Starfire gave Cinderblock a sugar sweet smile. "I am most sorry to disappoint." Her eyes began to glow a bright green. "But I am stronger than I look." She nailed Cinderblock in the chest with her leg as hard as she could; forcing him to let her go and sending him stumbling back.

Capitalizing on Cinderblock's current lack of balance, Robin jumped on Cinderblock's back, hooking his arms around the villain's neck. Cinderblock roared, thrashing around, but, unfortunately for Cinderblock, his arms were too short to reach his back to rip Robin off. "Thrashing only makes me hold tighter!"

Cinderblock let out another roar, this time ripping one of the metal supports on the wall out. Robin jumped off Cinderblock's back just as the unintelligent rock man hit himself over the head with the metal support beam so hard that made a dent the size of his head on it.

"Hey, that's not a bad idea!" Cyborg declared, ripping off another metal support. Cyborg and Cinderblock clashed support beams, swinging the heavy metal beams like batons, sparks flying where they collided from the sheer strength behind the blows. The two dueled this way for several seconds but in the end it was a contest of strength, of which Cinderblock had Cyborg only just beat. One blow from the rock monster sent Cyborg stumbling back, another sent him flying away.

Cinderblock turned toward where Starfire and Raven were floating. He started forward, beam still in hand, but a quick starbolt from Starfire melted it. Cinderblock dropped it. Turning he began to run toward the far side of the room, where he had been heading in the first place.

'_Odd, he seems too stupid to suddenly be frightened. Does he have a time limit or something?'_ Were the thoughts of Orpheus as he backed off, curious as to where the villain was going. _'With my aura sensing I could just tail him. Breaking a certain person out seems a little too smart of him. He's got to be working under somebody's instructions.'_

"Wanna give this guy the sonic boom?" He recognized the voice as Robin's. He knew what it was he was talking about. The sonic boom was an idea that they had after Robin took the time to describe his arsenal to them. It wasn't that exciting and they had all fallen asleep by the end of it. Cyborg had managed to stay awake long enough to see Robin's exploding disks. This had hatched the idea for the sonic boom, which was basically setting off an exploding disk with Cyborg's sonic cannon. They found a junkyard and made enough time to practice it a few times. They pulled it off a few times, but the concerning thing was that they messed up just as many times as they got it right.

Cyborg grinned as he turned his arm into a cannon. "I got the sonic if you got the boom." Turning, Cyborg called out "Yo rockhead!"

Cinderblock turned to look at them. Simultaneously, they ran forward, and then jumped off the nearby walls. There movements were graceful, almost like watching a dance. Elegant, yet efficient, and, from what he could see, almost completely in sync. Then everything went to hell.

From his angle, standing next to Raven, a few feet away from where Starfire and Beastboy were standing, he couldn't see properly what happened. Later he would find out from Robin and later Cyborg that someone's foot wasn't in the right place. Who that was, differed with who you asked. Bottom line was that they began spinning in mid air, throwing both of them off with the unexpected motion. They ended with both of them slamming against opposite walls, Cyborg's cannon going off to hit Starfire and Beastboy, sending them flying away. Robin's exploding disk, already prepped to go 'boom', went flying, incidentally land at the feet of Raven and Orpheus. In the seconds between it flying to them and it exploding, he managed to get a hold of Raven's shoulder, turning them both intangible. Despite this, the flash still blinded them, even though Orpheus was wearing shaded goggles.

When his vision returned, Cinderblock was gone. He could see the others were just getting to their feet. Looking past them, he saw that Cinderblock had apparently didn't believe in doors, choosing instead to knock holes through a wall and the wall behind it and so on, stopping once he reached a corridor, apparently electing to go down it. The big problem was that, he busted right in the middle of prison cells. The inmates, apparently, thought that this was their perfect chance to escape, completely ignoring the fact that the Titan's were between them and the exit. After all, to them, they were just kids…right?

Robin just sighed. He was already sore and tired from the fight with Cinderblock and he knew that the rest of the team wasn't much better. "Titan's go." He said lamely, lack most if not all the energy from before.

**THIS IS THE LAST IDEA THAT I HAVE FOR A LINE BREAK (NOT!)**

Two guys in orange prison jump suits were running. "Look, there's the exit!" One of them yelled, excited. "I think we're going to make it!" The other one yelled. Suddenly, a ghost ray hit them both in the back, sending them to the ground groaning. They managed to prop themselves up on their elbows, looking up just in time to see their exit get covered by the doors, covered in black energy, flying into place.

"You thought wrong." Said a calm voice as something picked them both up by the back of their jump suits and carried the two all the way back to their new cell, their old one rendered unusable via the gigantic hole in the wall. After depositing the two in their new cell, Orpheus walked up to where the rest of the group was standing.

"Jailbreak?" Beastboy scoffed. "I don't see any jailbreak!"

"None of us would've seen one if _Cyborg_ hadn't messed up!" Robin declared, eyes narrowed and looking away in anger.

"Me? _I_ messed up nothing! _You_ got in my way!" Cyborg countered, getting in Robin's face.

"_You_ were too far forward, and Cinderblock got away because of it!" Robin screamed back, vein pulsing. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Orpheus was laughing his ass off at the guard's expressions. Guards, along with policemen and a multitude of others, were well informed of both the Titan's special privileges and their abilities. So they knew that they would be little more than cannon fodder if a fight broke out between two of the Titan's.

"YOU SAYING THIS IS MY FAULT?!"

"YOU WANT ME TO SAY IT AGAIN?!" The two were in each other's face, metaphorical lightning bolts flying between their eyes.

"Stop! No more mean talking!" Starfire said, using her superior strength to push the both of them away from each other.

"Yeah, if you two are going to fight, we need time to sell tickets." Beastboy said, earning a nod from Orpheus.

"Your right! We need to have time to pop the popcorn, grab the candy, and get the soda's…" Orpheus shook his head. "There's a lot that we have to do before you two can even think about fighting. So chill!"

"Cinderblock escaped." Raven said bluntly. "No amount of yelling will change that. So stop screaming your heads off like _idiots_ and let's go home."

'_Huh, she already refers to the tower as home.'_ Orpheus thought. What he said was "Actually, there was something that was bothering me about Cinderblock…" When both Cyborg and Robin just snorted and started walking in the opposite direction, he sighed. "Guess it can wait until later."

"Loser/Jerk." Each of them mumbled near simultaneously, only for both of them to hear what the other. Turning around and getting back in the other's face they said, again almost simultaneously "WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"

"YOU GOT A PROBLEM TINMAN?!"

"YEAH, IT'S FOUR FEET TALL AND SMELLS LIKE CHEAP HAIR GEL!"

"WELL YOU'RE AN OVERSIZED CLUTZ AND YOUR FEET SMELL LIKE MOTOR OIL!"

"SHUT THE HELL UP, BOTH OF YOU!" Each of them turned to look at a steaming Orpheus.

Orpheus took a deep breath to calm down. "Look, Cinderblock got away. Nothing we can do can change that. And fighting each other will _certainly_ ensure that the next bad guy gets away too. The only thing we can do now is figure out what Cinderblock was after here, figure out where he went, and make sure that we _all_ get better so that next time we fight him, we win."

"Wait a minute, what the hell do you mean _we_?" Beastboy said, suddenly materializing right in his face. "It was _them_ who made the mistake that let Cinderblock get away, not us!"

"What's _that_ supposed to mean Beastboy?!" Cyborg and Robin said simultaneously.

"_I_ mean that we _all_ have areas that we could improve in, Beastboy!" Orpheus but in, trying to stop another argument.

"Yeah, like not getting caught by a slow as hell rock head." Robin comment snidely. Orpheus rounded on him, patience wearing thin.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean Birdie-boy?" Said Orpheus, his voice showing barely concealed anger.

"Oh, I think you know _exactly_ what it's supposed Orpheus!" Countered Robin.

"At least I got myself free without help!"

"Why are you getting on him when _you're_ the one who let him get away?!" Cyborg said, getting himself back into the argument.

"I'M THE ONE…?!" This devolved into a shouting match, involving Cyborg, Robin, and Orpheus.

"I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHY I'M ON THIS TEAM!" Cyborg yelled.

"ME NEITHER!" Orpheus agreed.

"I QUIT!" They said as one, before stalking away, out the door, and out of sight.

Robin stared ahead impassively. "Dude, what did we just do…?" Beastboy mumbled, looking down.

Raven said nothing, but, on the far side of the room, a line of lights were engulfed in black energy and broken into a million pieces.

Starfire looked teary eyed. She started forward to Robin but the boy-wonder just waved her off.

Still looking down, Robin said in a quiet voice "Forget it. Who knows? Maybe we're better off without them."

**End Chapter**

**Hurray for longest chapter written yet (Even if it did take me a while)**

**Author Note 1: Let's face it. I don't know much about architecture but I'm pretty sure that a T isn't the best shape to make a tower in. So, I made it into a mistake.**

**Author Note 2: Can anyone else see a rude awakening coming for Cyborg?**

**Question: If, for some reason, Danny should get turned into an animal, what animal should it be? (It can't be a monkey, tiger, bear, or rabbit (I'm open to argument on it being a rabbit)**

**Poll will be closed in a few chapters. If you haven't voted already, please do so.**

**Either way, REVIEW!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello one and all. I'm afraid that there was a misunderstanding in the last chapter. Having an OC of your creation make an appearance was ****only reserved for the first two people to review in the reference correctly. Anyone who submitted an OC but did not win, your OC's will be saved and **_**possibly**_** make an appearance in another chapter (Unless you no longer want me to use them. In that case, put it in a review or send me a PM).**** On that note, let a "congratulations" go out to princessbinas and ****Leviathan Tamer. They were the winners of the little contest so keep an eye out for their Original Characters in this chapter.**

**In case you haven't noticed, the story cover has been changed. Let a big "Thank You!" go out to BlueStar95, who so graciously decided to create such a fantastic picture and allowed me to use it as a story cover. Thanks Bluestar95!**

**Review Reply Time!**

The Virus:** Solider: "Sir, we have isolated the T virus in the city and walled it up." Me: "Nuke it." *Large explosion*"Nuke it again." *Another large explosion* "Your move Virus": D**

unknown:** Thanks! And, rest assured, it will. Just not for a while. As for when the other Titan's realize that Orpheus needs help, which depends on what you mean by "help". Do you mean actual help with the GIW and such, or do you mean metal help, helping him heal from the trauma the GIW put him through? The answers are different. I'll try to update soon.**

Warlord:** A badger, huh? That'd be hilarious. As for a girlfriend with a temper, a girlfriend that gets four glowing red eyes when she gets mad has a bit of a temper, wouldn't you say?**

coldblue: **To answer your questions, eventually the other Titan will find out about his scars eventually. It'll become a plot point where he refuses to wear anything that won't cover the scars, despite the fact that it might be hot enough to warrant lighter clothing. Second question: Too soon to tell. Third question: yes. Fourth question: The Teen Titan's enemies. Last question: No, I'm good.**

Guest:** Good suggestion**

Ironic Twist: **Glad you enjoyed it. He got in because he is very good at sneaking. Good suggestions, I'll consider them.**

Guest:** Thanks for the suggestion**

Rockstar: **Thanks for all the compliments. ****I really don't plan on putting smut of any kind in this story (What will be in the story will be completely innocent. Kissing, snuggling, ect.) On the microscopic chance that smut of any is in my story, it will be only be referenced to. (As in, saying that they woke up in the same bed together, unclothed or something like that) Anyone who wants to fill in the blanks any further than that can use their imagination or, if they wish, they have my permission to write a one shot that'll fill in the gaps. (I have this underlined because it is more of a message to everybody, rather than just Rockstar).**

Sparxthehdgehog: **Dani is going to show up eventually anyway (Around the same time that Danny's ghost form makes its appearance.)**

Guest:** A raven because of its connection to death Interesting.**

Kelly Kelly:** A penguin huh? Well, a penguin sliding on its belly is hilarious (To me at least). Thanks for all the compliments. I'll keep updating as often as I can.**

GhostGirl89243: **Many choices… Good reasons for each one (I'm big on reason)… But there can only be one…**

guest: **A falcon or a raccoon? Well I give you points for originality.**

**ATTENTION. POLL WILL BE CLOSED WITH THE POSTING OF THE NEXT CHAPTER. VOTE IN IT NOW IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY DONE SO. Currently the poll is: Be angry but give it a chance at: 21 Be happy and continue reading at: 13 Not feel one way or another: 10 Be furious and stop reading or reviewing in protest: 10**

**On with the show!**

**Chapter 11**

Orpheus felt mad. He felt mad and he didn't even know what he was really mad about. Maybe it was because Robin and Cyborg kind of messed up his plan. Maybe it was that laugh that Cinderblock did as he was walking away that got him mad. But he was pretty sure that he was made about how much of an _idiot_ Robin and Beastboy were being when he left. Mostly Robin though. And Cyborg. When he thought back, he wasn't completely blameless either. _'Probably shouldn't have gotten involved in their argument and just let them have it out.'_ He thought, hitting himself over his own stupidity. After all, words hurt, but that was all the two could've done to each other. If either of them decided to throw a punch, he knew without a doubt that the rest of the team would have them restrained before the first punch even landed.

After he had stalked off away from the team, somewhere in the back of his mind, he resolved to stay with Cyborg, if for anything else than the company. That plan failed completely. Mad as he was, he was more or less thinking about and going over the entire fight with Cinderblock, the after effects, and what lead up to him being where he was now. This more or less caused him to absently wander around, deep in thought. Now he was on an abandoned street corner, not a person in sight.

'_I don't want to quit.'_ The though came to him as quietly as a whisper, growing in strength until it became a mantra, repeating it to himself. _'I DON'T WANT TO QUIT.'_ All of the suddenly he stopped. Quietly, he said to himself "I really don't appreciate such blatant manipulation of my mind, Clockwork."

He didn't receive a reply. Then again, was he really expecting one? All of the sudden he noticed it. There was a stillness to the air that wasn't there to begin with. Given that there weren't any people on the street, nor any birds or clouds in the sky, there wasn't any indication that time had stopped, save for the lack of a slight breeze. Orpheus sighed. "How long has time been stopped and I just haven't noticed Clockwork?"

"A few seconds before you told me you didn't appreciate my manipulation." Came the bored reply as a portal opened up, revealing the Time Master in all his age shifting glory. "You don't want me trying to help you?"

"How is it helping if you're controlling me?" Orpheus countered, eliciting a frown from the ageless ghost.

"I'm not controlling you." Clockwork replied, frown continuing. "If I was controlling you, do you think you would've noticed it?"

"Just because I noticed it, doesn't make it any less controlling." Orpheus said. "Even now after I noticed it, the thought you just placed in my head is still there. It's a little disturbing to think of when, if I decide to act on it, that I might be acting on thoughts not my own."

"I have never placed thoughts in your mind Danny." Clockwork remanded firmly. "Never forget that. I have only taken feelings that you already possessed and amplified them to be at the forefront of your mind. You didn't want to quit anyways but that feeling was hidden by your anger at your teammates. I just brought it out of hiding."

"That's not the point." Orpheus said. "I want to make my _own_ decisions. I don't object to a little push here or there to keep me away from the GIW, but other than that, can you let me make my own path, and not the one you chose for me?"

A quiet silence settled over the pair, the Ghost of Time's face unreadable. Then "I just want what's best for you Danny." Unbidden, the statement aroused memories of a different time, a simpler time, where the worst thing he had to worry about was a bad grade and bullies.

_Flashback_

"_I just want what's best for you Dano, even though I know I'm a bit of a goof and it doesn't always turn out like that, just remember that's all me and your mom ever wanted for you."_

_End Flashback_

Orpheus swallowed the lump in his throat, holding back tears. _'Dad…'_

Clockwork continued anyway, seemingly unaware that he was barely listening. "You have to understand Danny. I'm not supposed to interfere to any large degree in the affairs of others. I'm allowed to influence others in order to direct events into the best possible long-term outcome but no more than that. The fact that you have even seen me and are aware of my presence breaks a lot of rules. Talked with me, a few more, and the number just keeps going up."

Orpheus, still getting himself together, stuttered out "You have rules you have to follow?"

Clockwork nodded. "You have to understand Danny, I'm not omnipotent. I can still, despite my wealth of knowledge and power over time itself, make mistakes. The rules are in place because any mistake that _I_ make causes unimaginably disastrous results. The rule's make it hard for me to make one without breaking them."

"How disastrous?" It was probably the stupidest question he could've asked, but he had to know.

"Apocalyptic disastrous." Clockwork replied bluntly. The weight of that last statement hung over him like a thundercloud, making it hard to think of little else. "Anyway, when I broke the rules, I had to stand before a court of the Observers and be held accountable for my actions."

Orpheus frowned. "I thought you said the Observers couldn't force you to do anything."

"They can't but they could cause a lot of trouble for me if they decided to go over my head and tell my superiors about it."

"Your superiors?" Orpheus asked.

Clockwork just gave him his patented mysterious smile. "Come now, Danny, I can't give you all the secrets of the universe now can I?" Clockwork shook his head. "Now, where was I? Oh yes. The court decided that I was to be responsible for you, for your actions, as your very existence is due to my intervention."

"If you're responsible for me, then why didn't you break me out of the GIW facility?" Orpheus asked quietly. He took off his goggles and lowered his hood; reveal two neon green eyes with tears streaming from them. Voice rising with each word, he continued "Why didn't help me escape? Why did you make them give their lives in order to get me out of that damned place?!"

"I did." Clockwork replied, voice unwavering. "So many of their experiments should've killed you. So many of them should've driven you insane or twisted you into something… different. Something ugly, something nasty. Something… evil."

Clockwork took a deep breath before continuing. "I had to let them take you. I had to let them do what they did to you."

"WHY?!"

"The number one part of this job that I hate." Clockwork said quietly. "I once told you what that part of my job was. Why you should never trust me. The reason why you don't trust me, even now."

"Because you'd have to let half of the world burn if it meant having a sure chance at saving the other half." Danny said quietly. Clockwork nodded, face grim.

"Exactly! Letting you stay there as long as you did was not the best for you, but it was best for the world at large, as much as I hate it." Clockwork shook his head. "But we're off topic. You're my responsibility Danny. I'm only looking to protect you." The ghost finished, putting a hand on Danny's shoulder as the half ghost looked down

"Even if you are trying to protect me, how am I ever going to be able to make my own choices with you manipulating me?" Danny said as wiped his eyes, put on his goggles and hood, becoming Orpheus once again. "Part of learning is making mistakes, and learning from them. How am I ever going to be able to take care of myself if you never let me make any mistakes?"

"I'm not stopping you from making any mistakes; otherwise you would not be here. I see your point though. If you wish, I will let you make mistakes. I'll let you fall, skin your knee's a few times, and, short of the GIW getting a hold of you, let anything happen to you. Is that agreeable to you?" Clockwork's voice was calm as ever, but his face was hard, making Orpheus think that he may be making a mistake.

'_No.'_ He thought to himself. _'I was under the control of Freakshow once. The GIW once controlled whether I lived or died. Nobody will control me ever again. Not Freakshow, not the GIW, and not Clockwork, no matter how slight it might be or how benevolent his intentions may be.'_

"It is." Orpheus affirmed. If Clockwork was angry at his answer, he didn't show it.

Clockwork sighed. "So be it." **(AN 1)**

A portal to Clockwork's lair in the Ghost Zone opened up behind the ghost. Clockwork floated back into it silently, eyes never leaving his. The portal began to close once Clockwork was on the other side, staring at him with an unreadable expression.

Once the portal closed, Orpheus let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Everything was silent for a moment. Then the wind blew, tossing his cloak to the side. Orpheus sighed. _'Now that that's done with, what the hell do I do now?'_

Walking to one of the buildings, he jumped onto the side, sticking to it and running up it and jumping once he hit the top, landing on the roof. Looking at the sky, he noted that sunset was in a few hours. Looking around, he noticed something strange. There was something akin to heat waves around what looked to be a museum. When Orpheus focused on his aura sensing, he found something strange. If he had to describe it, it felt like a person's aura was forming right in the middle of the museum. _'What the hell?'_

Following his senses, he jumped from roof to roof until he landed on the roof of the museum, then he turned invisible and phased through the roof. He landed on the upper level of what was a round room with a skylight in the middle of the roof. Displays lined the sides of both levels of the room, featuring multiple different things.

Orpheus wasn't looking at that however. He was looking at the center of the room as a portal opened up. Instead of the green that he was used to in portals to the ghost zone, this one was a deep purple and had rough edges, like it was freshly torn from something. Turning away from that for a second he noted the lack of security guards. _'Whoever maintains this museum must rely off of a locked door to stop criminals. Stupid.'_

As he watched, the portal seemed to cave in on itself, and then it exploded, blinding him with the flash and sending out a minor shockwave of force that was strong enough to create cracks in the floor directly underneath where the portal had been. Luckily it was a big room so the force dissipated by the time that it reached any of the displays. It did, however, kick up a lot of dust and dirt from the floor into the air. _'When the hell was the last time somebody cleaned up in here?'_

Orpheus coughed, flickering into intangibility for a second to get the dust out of his lungs. _'Not sure what just happened, but for some reason I don't think that was a natural Ghost Zone portal that just opened, or even a portal to the Ghost Zone at all. Something just came through and…'_ Orpheus turned invisible. _'I don't its friendly.'_

Activating the thermal vision, he saw a humanoid figure standing in the dust. Only…_'Are those wings?!'_ He could see something that could only be wings extending from what appeared to be its back. The wings flapped, once, twice, three times, clearing the air. His supernaturally good hearing picked up "Man, why are the first times in a new dimension always so violent?" in a distinctively deep male voice. The dust was clearing and he got a clear look at the figure for the first time

It was a human-looking. Teenage male human-looking, to be specific. Once Orpheus got over the black and red reptilian wings that sprouted from the teenager's back, he took in all the other details of the guy. He was Orpheus's height, with a build like his too which was a combination of Robin and Cyborg's build in that he, like Orpheus, had a build that had more muscle mass than would be found on the body of a skilled dancer while retaining most of the grace, but also not as much as a body builder. He was wearing worn out looking blue jeans, which were held up with a plain worn out black belt, that were ripped at the knees and at the bottom of the legs where a little dirt could be found. Plain brown equally worn out boots were on his feet. He was wearing a shirt that was a faded cameo green with the sleeves ripped off. His wings seemed to come out of small slits that were cut on the back of it. He was wearing black fingerless gloves. He had a tan complexion and messy brown hair. But what stood out the most were his eyes, which he saw when the winged teen turned around on the spot to scan the room. His eyes were a deep ruby red, the pupil being slitted slightly. When he saw the red eyes, he started in a cold sweat and his heart began to beat faster.

_*Flashback*_

_Cold, blood red eyes shining with madness and cruelty stared at him, inches away. "You just don't get it, do you?! I still exist! YOU still turn into ME!"_

_*End Flashback*_

He calmed down slightly when the stranger continued scanning the room. The half ghost was disturbed by the momentary accidental eye contact, even if he was invisible and the stranger showed no sign at being able to see through his invisibility.

The teen started forward, walking out of the room and down the joining hallway, Orpheus following as silently as he could. So concentrated was he on the kid with wings, he wasn't paying attention to his surrounding as much as he should've. His arm bumped on a vase sitting on a pedestal, knocking it over. Panic kicking in, he managed to catch it just inches before it would've smashed against the ground. The sound of the vase hitting his palm though, slight as it was, was apparently loud enough. The stranger whirled around, a shiny black katana appearing in a small purple flash at his hands. Luckily, he allowed his power to flow through the vase and turn it invisible, leaving no sign of his presence that he could see. However, from his angle, he couldn't see the ever so slight rocking of the pedestal, the few specs of dust the fell off the vase and became visible, or the bare spot on the dusty pedestal that was occupied by the vase. Orpheus could see none of these things, but the stranger could. And see it the stranger did.

**Earlier, right after the Titanic Argument**

Robin was back at the tower, staring out the window at the bay. He said nothing, but then again, he didn't have to. Raven could easily pick up the guilt coming from the masked teen. He wasn't the only one though. Beastboy seemed to feel similar and Starfire usual bubbly mood was brought down. She got into the kitchen and was making… something. She didn't know what it was, only that it growled at her when she walked by it to fix her herbal tea. When Starfire heard it, she just sighed, said "Not done yet" and hit it with a spoon to shut it up.

Robin looked down, stalking out the room. Watching him leave, she shut her book and got to go to one of the computer displays on one of the walls of the Ops room. Azarath was pretty low tech, which incidentally lead to her past time of reading books. However it did leave her unfamiliar with the obviously superior and a bit overwhelming technology of Earth. If she was going to be living here (At least until it came time for her to be the instrument of its destruction, she was forced to remind herself) then she needed to get familiar with the technology of the place. _'After all, no time like the present, right?'_ She told herself; try to forget the fact that she was only doing this because meditation and reading had failed to distract her from the fact that she'd just lost two teammates, one of them well onto their way into becoming a close friend, and that, short of going to Nevermore to confront her emotions face to face, this was the only way she had to distract herself from her own feelings of guilt at not doing just a little more to try and stop it.

**Line Break: With Robin**

Robin stalked down the hallway, deep in thought. Looking back, he felt bad about what he'd said to Cyborg and Orpheus. Sure, he still believed that Cyborg had been too far forward and that had been the reason that their attack had failed, letting Cinderblock get away. And Orpheus… he really didn't know why he yelled at Orpheus in the first place. He was just trying to mediate between the two of them, and even if he did fail epically at it, that was no reason to yell at him. Even he was sloppy and let Cinderblock get a hold of him; he got himself out of it too with his intangibility. And Robin had to admit: If he could turn intangible, he would be sloppier with defense as well. "Powers" Batman had said when a younger Robin had asked about them "are a double edged sword; their good to have but the problem with them is that their owners tend to become over dependent on them."

Turning, he found himself standing in front of the door labeled "Orpheus". He paused for a second, contemplating whether or not he should go in. _'He quit. So really, what does it matter if I go in if technically it's not his room anymore?'_ Mind made up, he pushed a button on the wall, causing the door to slide open.

Stepping in, he looked around the room. There really wasn't anything that stood out in the entire room. Walking up to the night table next to the bed, he picked up the only photograph in the entire room. He forgot what day it was taken, though it was apparently a very nice day by the look of it. It was the team, standing on the beach on a clear summer day, with the Titan Tower still in construction in the background. The funny thing about the picture was that, despite how it looked, it wasn't, for the most part, posed. Beastboy was completely oblivious, caught in the middle of animatedly telling a bad joke, face frozen in a grin and arms waving. Starfire was oblivious as well, as she was looking toward Beastboy and giggling into one hand with her eyes closed. Cyborg was standing next to her, in the middle of a fist pump, staring straight at the camera. Next to the Cyborg was Robin himself, arms crossed over his chest, a confident smirk on his face. Orpheus was standing next to the boy wonder, standing there with one of his arms stuck out for the camera, two fingers sticking out to form a peace sign and a easy going smile on his face. Raven was at the edge of the photograph, standing next to Orpheus. Her body was turned slightly away from the camera, but her head was turned back toward the camera, piercing amethyst eyes staring straight into the camera.

Robin smiled slightly at the picture. It seemed to capture the personality of each of them in the poses they were frozen in. Putting it back, he looked back over the room. "I'm sorry." He mumbled as he turned and walked out, door sliding shut behind him.

**Line Break: With The Others in the Ops Room**

Whatever Starfire was making had apparently just been finished as she flew up to Beastboy, who was calling Cyborg on the phone repeatedly trying to get him to pick up, and said "Taste!" And shoved the spoon in his mouth before he could protest.

"Ack!" Beastboy gulped as he shook his head repeatedly and ended up rubbing his tongue against. "What the heck was that, cream of toenails?"

"Pudding of sadness." Starfire explained, lifting up another spoonful of the brownish substance. Briefly Beastboy noted that she had used the same spoon that she had just shoved in his mouth. "It what the people of my planet eat when bad things happen." She lifted it and swallowed a spoonful, face contorting in a grimace. She shuddered as it went down her throat. "D-delicious."

Flying forward to Raven, who was at one of the terminals, she held out another spoonful of the substance. "Would you care for some, Friend Raven? It helps ease a troubled mind."

Raven glanced at the alien, managing to allow an insulted look flash across her face so quickly it barely registered. "My mind is never troubled. People come, people go. It's pointless to worry about things so trivial." While saying this, she failed to notice the screens behind suddenly glow black for a second, and then several cracks spread throughout them. At the same time, a sudden breeze went through, tossing the hair on the back of her head around.

Of course Raven felt her powers cause both of these things. Of course she knew why Starfire was now staring at her with a confused expression, raising one arm and lifting one finger to point behind her.

'_I need to meditate.'_ She thought absentmindedly as she looked at the confused Tameranian in front of her. She wasn't proud of the fact that she couldn't control her power completely. It wasn't a fact that she liked to broadcast. Naïve Starfire was, if she told her that her powers weren't completely under her control, she wonder why that was. That would lead to her either lying which was ALWAYS a bad idea, or telling her that her powers were linked to her emotions. That wasn't something that she felt like sharing just yet. So she chose the path of ignorance, pretending not to notice either of the things that just happened behind her. "What?"

Starfire just shook her head, slowly floating away.

**Line Break: Orpheus**

After the close call with the vase, Orpheus made the executive decision to use his aura sensing to lock onto the aura of the strange sword wielding teen and follow at a distance, still invisible.

The katana, as he remembered the sword was called from his brief time in Feudal Japan during that whole fiasco with chasing Vlad around when he got his hands on the Infi-Map, was rather standard. Standard length, width, the only thing that stood out was the black color scheme. Everything on it was some shade of black, the blade itself being the darkest part of all.

Suddenly, the katana user stopped moving. Or at least his aura did. _'He's doing something in that room…'_ Stalking forward, he turned intangible to phase through a few walls. When he finally got to the room with the sword wielder in he stopped, turning tangible but not visible in order to observe the scene unfolding. The brown haired teenager had taken out a clipboard and was currently walking around the room, stopping in front of and looking down at his clipboard in front of each exhibit. "That's not it. Neither is that. Nope, nope, nope. Where the hell is it? It's supposed to be in this room."

'_Huh. Despite that impressive entrance and that sword he seems to be no better than your average thief.'_ Deciding that he could handle some above average thief, he dropped his invisible and announced his presence. "Misplaced something? Maybe I can help you find it." He said in a voice that showed that he had no intention of helping him.

The brown haired thief shook his head; not even seeming surprised at his presence and turned to look at him. "I didn't misplace anything. I am though looking for something. I doubt you'd be willing to help me find it, considering most hero's attack after hearing that what I'm looking for isn't mine, but—"

He never got the chance to continue as a ghost ray impacted against his sword, having used it to block the attack. "Seems I was right. Funny thing is that when I take what I'm looking for, you'll never be able to tell, as I will replace it with a perfect replica."

"You'll never get the chance to!" Orpheus declared, looking confident. On the inside though, he was nervous. For a second, he rubbed his hand on his Titan communicator, and then reached deeper to touch the communicator Nick had given him. _'I'm not gonna call Nick's guys for help for just this guy and I sure hell ain't calling the Titans for help just so soon.'_ Besides, as far as he could see, all this guy had was a sword. Sure that suggested that he had some amount of skill with it, but he was pretty confident that he could beat him. After all, he just had a sword… right?

Orpheus sent another ghost ray at the thief's head, then one at his knees, chest, and one at his arm. They shot through the air, streaks of green that his eyes could only just track. They came short though, as each and every one of them was blocked by the thief's katana. _'This is boring. And here I thought this one was something special. Oh well.'_ The thief thought. What he said though was "I suppose if we're going to fight, we may as well know each other's names. I am known as Vorpal. Yourself?"

The grey cloaked hero paused, hand still glowing from where he was prepared to shoot off another ghost ray. "Orpheus."

Vorpal raised an eyebrow at the name. "Were you actually named that at birth, or did you choose it?"

"I chose it, why?" Orpheus asked, being careful not to lower his guard.

Vorpal frowned. "You're aware of the history associated with your name, right?" Orpheus nodded, causing Vorpal's frown to deepen. "Then why choose it?"

Orpheus relaxed his stance for just a split second, a pained expression flashing across his face. "Because… it fits."

Vorpal relaxed for second, confused. It was at this moment that Orpheus decided to attack.

Rushing forward, he activated his brass knuckles and threw a right hook at his head. Vorpal waited until the very last second to lean back, letting the fist pass through the air where his head just occupied. Capitalizing on it, Orpheus kicked at Vorpal, only for Vorpal to right himself and slide to the side, and then slashed at him. Orpheus managed to create a small crescent shaped shield quick enough to block the sword. Sweat beaded on his brow as he poured energy into the shield to keep it up as Vorpal put more and more force on it, attempting to cut through.

Letting it fall, he jumped back and let loose a ghost fang midair at the thief. Lowering his sword, Vorpal stretched his hand out a hand in front of him. Orpheus watched in confusion as the marble floor seemed to bend… up and blocked the wave of ecto energy. _'What the heck was that? It wasn't telekinesis, but I don't know what else to call it…' _**(AN 2)**

Running forward, the sword user swung at him. Moving quickly, Orpheus backed out of range of the katana, then covered his wrist to his elbow in the densest, hardest ice that he could. At the same time, he opened his gloved hands and activated his claws.

Vorpal swung again, only this time he was blocked by Orpheus's ice covered forearm. Wincing at the amount of strength behind the blade, he slashed at him with his claws. Vorpal jumped back, easily dodging the claws.

They went at it for about ten minutes this way, Orpheus using his claws and the occasional ghost ray to attack and his ice protected forearms as well as a shield here or there to defend. Vorpal used his sword for attack and defense, throwing a little bit of that strange "space manipulation" for defensive purposes.

'_This is getting me nowhere.'_ Orpheus thought angrily as he did a back flip to put some distance between the two of them. He glanced down at his forearms, looking at the multiple cuts across the surface of them. Cuts that had come from blocking that sword. And given the fact that the ice had near diamond level hardness, he knew for a fact that that sword wasn't something he wanted to get hit with any time soon.

Vorpal smirked at the frustrated teen in front of him. On the inside though, he was a little impressed. Even though he came for the hour hand of a special old and expensive clock **(AN 3)** for one of his projects, and when he was done playing with the hero in front of him he would still get it, he still enjoyed a good fight. The adrenalin rush, the excitement, the burning in his limbs whenever someone managed to push him, no matter how slight. Granted, the teen in front of him was _very_ rough around the edges, at least to him, when it came to combat, but had a _whole_ lot of potential, at least in his eyes. _'Interesting and varied abilities, good speed, good reaction time, decent strength. Adapts on the fly. All in all, this kid could go places… Wonder when the second one will jump in.'_

"You're not too bad, I'll give you that." Vorpal commented dryly, cracking his neck. Orpheus smirked at the compliment.

"Getting tired?" Orpheus quipped mockingly, getting a shake of the head from the thief. "Not a chance." Vorpal charged again, Orpheus running to meet him. Vorpal swung his sword up, preparing for a downward slash that would've cleaved Orpheus straight in two. Recognizing the move from the few times that he had used it before from their earlier in their bout, Orpheus stopped running and instead jumped high over his head.

Doing a flip in mid air, he sent a small ghost ray directly at the hand holding the blade. Seeing the thief was still facing the opposite direction, he didn't even see it coming. It hit home, eliciting a short cry of pain from Vorpal and causing him to drop the katana. Following up, he hit him with an ice beam, quickly covering his arms in a thick layer of ice. Then his feet, icing them to the floor. And last a thin sheet over his torso and a thick sheet over his wings for good measure

"Who's 'not too bad' now, huh?" Orpheus smirked, confidently walking up the restrained teen. Vorpal just gave him a deadpan look. "If you could ice me up the entire time, then why did you fight me and not just do it in the beginning?"

"Uh, hehehe, well you see…" Orpheus trailed off, not sure how he would be able to explain the restrictions on using his ice powers in human form (Or for that matter, why he should tell a thief about it). It was like this. In human form, his ice powers were constantly active on some level, making it so that the cold didn't affect him as well as making him harder to burn than the average human. That use was subconscious and, since he had been doing it for so long, it didn't put any strain on him or anything. However, to use them actively put a lot of strain on him. Unlike all of his other powers, save transforming into his ghost form, he actually had to manifest his ghost core temporarily to use his ice powers, which wasn't easy. That made using his ice powers difficult. Not only did he unconsciously have to use his powers to stop the presence of his _ghostly_ ice core in his _human_ body from causing any damage to his body, which that alone was taxing on his ice powers, but he also had to channel almost twice the amount of energy into anything that he used them for. Half for the actual attack, half to be used to stop the energy from his core from damaging himself as it traveled from his core through his body and out of it into an attack. The reason why he had not used his ice powers to freeze him from the very beginning was because of the fact that he now felt like if he had just dead sprinted from one side of the city to the other with weighs tied to his legs. The upside however was that when he tired himself out this way he recovered faster than he did from any other way and the more times he did it, the more his body got used to it. **(AN 4)**

"Why I didn't in the beginning doesn't matter. What are you after here?" Orpheus stated in a 'no nonsense' tone. Vorpal just grinned like a mad man. "Come on, you expect me to just tell you outright?"

"Well, you either tell me or…" Orpheus turned intangible. "I go inside your head myself to find out."

"I wouldn't recommend trying that." Vorpal replied, expression dark. Orpheus just turned tangible and leaned forward, smirking. "Try me."

Vorpal remained silent for second, weighing his options. One on hand, he could not tell him and hope that he wouldn't be hurt too much from entering his mind. He wanted to beat him after all, not cripple him. Or he could just not take the risk at all and just tell him. Of course, there was always the option of just breaking out of the ice and not telling him anything at all. _'Yeah'_ the thief thought, _'I'll go with that.'_

Focusing, he summoned his katana to his hand, shocking the hero and breaking the ice around his right arm. Wasting no time, he brought his full strength against the weakened ice, breaking it in his other arm and in his wings, and then beating his wings to fly up slightly and break the ice that had him frozen to the floor by his legs. Lastly, while he was still up in the air, he used his katana to skillfully slice off the remaining ice on his chest as well as anywhere else.

Vorpal smirked as he dropped back down to the floor to avoid two ghost rays. Orpheus went to charge, but Vorpal wouldn't have that, using his space manipulation to bend the floor so that it rose up rather dramatically in a bump, tripping the hero —much to his embarrassment- and he slide to the floor on his stomach, stopping at Vorpal's boot clad feet.

Vorpal grinned, casually laying the tip of his blade at Orpheus's neck as said hero propped himself up on his elbows and looked up to the thief standing over him. "Now then, what were you saying earlier?"

However, just before he could form a reply, the unexpected happened. A female voice rang out throughout the museum in a foreign language, saying "_Questo ragazzo si rivela non essere così bello, così lo lasciò gustare potenza di un drago!_" **(AN 5)**

"Wha..?" Vorpal said looking around. Orpheus looked right in front of him, which was behind the thief, and smirked at what he saw. Before Vorpal could do anything to stop him, Orpheus phased through the floor. Then he heard a growling sound and felt heavy footsteps hitting the floor behind him. Turning he saw a green traditional Chinese dragon. The dragon opened its mouth and let out a roar, spewing out a raging torrent of fire straight toward the wide-eyed thief. Quickly, Vorpal used his space manipulation to make the floor in front of him rise, blocking the fire from toasting him. When he lowered it however, he was treated to the sight of the dragon charging straight at him.

'_Ah, hell.'_

**With Orpheus**

Orpheus phased back up through the floor behind the dragon just as it began to charge at Vorpal. He had no idea where it had come from, but he was glad that it came when it did. _'I guess that whatever that was earlier must've been some kind of summoning spell? Who cast it, if it was?'_

"You're weird." Orpheus turned at the sound of the same female voice from before to see a pale skinned golden brown haired girl in a pink petal leotard with a matching skirt and slippers. Looking to be about a year or two younger than he was, she had brown eyes and her hair was put back in a pony tail. She had a small red wand in one hand, which she then proceeded to clip to belt that held her skirt. Orpheus, however, was paying attention to the pink and glittery butterfly wings that went out of her back. His first thought was _'Am I the only one around here that doesn't have wings?!'_

"I'm guessing that was you that created that dragon?" Orpheus asked rhetorically.

"Yup!" She dipped her head as she answered. "Names Nymph, you?"

"Orpheus." He answered, offering up one of his hands to shake, which she did, giggling. Orpheus just ignored it. Pointing behind him, he "Thanks for the help, by the way."

"No problemo! Say, you haven't seen a friend a mine around here, have ya?" She asked, leaning forward and succeeding in making him feel uncomfortable with the closeness.

"A friend?" Orpheus asked, confused as he back up so he could have his personal space. Concentrating, he quickly activated his aura sensing and scanned the building with it. _'Only people here are me, her, and Vorpal. Wait, where'd the dragon go? It's aura just faded!'_

Turning, he was treated to the sight of Vorpal standing on top of the dragon with his katana sticking out of the dragon at the base of his neck. He pulled it out and, instead of blood, smoke poured out of the wound as the entire dragon dissolved into smoke.

"Well, that was annoying." Vorpal commented dryly, hair and clothes disheveled and a thoroughly annoyed look on his face. "And what I want isn't even here, for some reason. Strange. _Someone must be messing in the time stream in order for it not to be here. Guess I got to find who first_." He mumbled that last part, not wanting them to hear it.

"Ah, well, no harm, no foul, right?" Vorpal said brightly, arms out stretched and a smile plastered on his face as his katana disappeared. Orpheus just frowned.

"I don't think so. You're under arrest." Orpheus replied, face stretched in a frown. Vorpal just sighed.

"See, that's not going to work. You want to know why?" Vorpal replied mockingly, getting a rise out of the grey cloaked hero.

"Why? Need I remind you that we fought to a standstill earlier, and now I have help?" Orpheus said, nodding in Nymph's direction.

"_Who's your help?_" Orpheus nearly jumped out of his skin as the whispering voice of Nymph suddenly appeared in his ear as the fairy like girl was standing next to him, looking around conspiratorially. Vorpal just shook his head and watched the proceedings amusedly.

"_You!_" Orpheus whispered back, getting a frown from the pink obsessed girl.

"Who told you I was going to help you?" Nymph responded, backing up and putting her hands on her hips, looking affronted.

Orpheus sighed in exasperation. "If you're not going to help me, why'd you sic that dragon on him?"

Nymph frowned. "I did that so that I could ask you if you'd seen my friend. I don' really want to do anything else till I find her."

"Aw, come on!" Orpheus complained, frustrated as he hung his head.

"Well…" Nymph said, getting Orpheus to look up in hope. "I _might_ be willing to help, _if_ you promise to help me find my friend and you say 'pretty please Nymph, you're beautiful and you're the best'.

Orpheus sighed. _'Why can't things be simple?'_

Nymph tapped her foot in impatience. "Well…?"

Orpheus just grimaced. "Pretty please Nymph you're…" He cut off, causing Nymph to cough loudly and glare at him. He continued. "Beautiful and you're the best."

"And…?" Nymph prodded, prompting to sigh again.

"I promise to help you find your friend." Orpheus finished, sealing his fate.

Nymph's eyes went wide. "REALLY? AW, THANKS A BUNCH!" She cheered, running forward and tackling him to the ground with a hug.

Orpheus blushed at the contact at first. Then _'Personal space…. You're invading it…'_

"Get the hell off me!" He cried, jumping to his feet and pushing her off, leaving Nymph sitting on the floor. Tears appeared in her eyes and she sniffled. _'Oh, brother, please don't tell me…'_

"You're so mean!" She cried, sobbing hysterically into her arm. On another note, Vorpal had pulled a popcorn bag out of nowhere and was watching the scene. _'Man, these two are the best entertainment I've had in a while…'_ Vorpal though as he munched on his popcorn.

"No, wait, I'm sorry! I didn't mean it, honest!" Orpheus said in panic as he pulled the fairy like girl to her feet. She blinked at him.

"You…You didn't mean it..?" She asked, sniffling and looking up at him with tear filled wide eyes. On the inside though, she was cackling madly. _'Guilt trip, successful!'_

Orpheus gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "Of course not."

"Yay!" She said in an elated tone, giving him another bone crushing hug. Thankfully he managed to stay on his feet this time, and he was used to stronger, frequent, hugs from Starfire, so the surprising strength didn't faze him. _'Looks like I've got another hugger on my hands.'_ Orpheus groaned internally.

Thankfully, she let go of him on her own this time, beaming at him. Sighing, he turned back to a thoroughly amused Vorpal. "Now, where was I?"

Vorpal just raised an eyebrow at the carefully emotionless tone, but answered none the less. "I believe I was about to tell you why the two of you attempting to arrest me wouldn't work."

"Ah." Orpheus remained silent for a second, and then adopted the cold tone he was using earlier with the thief. "And why is it that arresting you wouldn't work?" He asked rhetorically, not really caring about whatever answer he gave.

"Simple really." Vorpal answered as he resummoned his katana to his hand. Concentrating slightly, the katana began to glow a purplish light. Vorpal grinned as he raised the glowing katana above his head, causing both Orpheus and Nymph to get into combat stances. Dimly, Orpheus was aware of Nymph drawing her wand, the tip of it glowing faintly.

Vorpal suddenly slashed down with it, causing Orpheus to put up shield big enough to cover him and Nymph by instinct.

No blast came though, and he saw through the shield that a portal had opened in the air that Vorpal had slashed that resembled the one that the thief had entered through earlier. The thief entered the portal without a word, the portal closed quickly behind him.

Even though the thief was gone, Orpheus couldn't shake the feeling that he was still around somehow.

Nymph opened her mouth to say something, but Orpheus held up a hand for silence, much to the fairy girl's annoyance. He stretched his aura sense as well as all his others to the max, trying to find the thief. Suddenly the thief's aura appeared… right behind them.

Turning around, he was about to shout a warning but it was too late, as Nymph collapsed to the ground, unconscious from the flat edge of a katana being slammed into the back of her head. Orpheus was about to mount an offensive, but before he could, Vorpal disappeared in another portal.

Orpheus whirled around, looking around wildly, trying not to keep his back facing one direction for too long. Another portal opened up right in front of him and Vorpal _flew_ out of it. Orpheus dropped to the floor to avoid a strike that would've rendered him unconscious just like Nymph. He looked up from the floor, only to feel something suddenly slam into the back of his head, rendering him unconscious.

Vorpal just grinned at the unconscious pair. _'He put up a good fight, I'll give him that. Even with me holding back some. Hell, he almost managed to handle me going all out for a second there._ Vorpal frowned at Nymph. _'Shame I didn't get to see more of what she could do. That dragon was no pushover. Ah, well, another time. Looks like I've got a clock to track down.'_

Humming quietly to himself, he opened another portal, glancing back at the unconscious duo, before walking into portal without looking back.

**Later**

Orpheus slowly opened his eyes to see brown eyes staring into his from less than an inch away. Startled, he jumped back, a strangled cry of surprise coming from deep in his throat and eliciting a laugh from the girl in front of him.

Orpheus glared at her the best he could while rubbing his head from where he hit it on the floor. "Why do you do that?" He complained

"Because, your fun to mess with." Nymph replied in a singy-songy voice.

Orpheus just groaned. "Whatever." He started walking away. "Anyway, thanks for the help."

"Wait!" Orpheus turned to see her looking at him with pleading eyes. "What about helping me find my friend?"

Orpheus frowned. "But we didn't capture him."

"But… but… You promised!" Nymph protested, face transforming into the wide teary eyed look know as the Puppy Eyes. _'Ha! Nobody is immune to the persuasive powers of the Puppy Eyes Spell!'_

'_Must…. Resist…. Dammit!'_ "Ok fine, I'll help you find this friend of yours." Orpheus relented, ashamed.

"Great!" Nymph cheered again, lunging for another hug. This time though he was ready and he stepped to the side, causing her to crash to the floor.

"You're so mean…" Nymph sniffled. Orpheus just ignored her.

"What led you to believe that she was here anyway?" Orpheus questioned, hoping that he didn't have to leave Jump City to find Nymph's friend

"Tracking spell! But for some reason, it leads me to _you_ and not her…" Nymph trailed off, making Orpheus's eyes widen. _'It couldn't be… Her friend, could it be?'_

"What's your friend's name again?" Orpheus said voice full of hidden apprehension.

"Well, I don't know if it's her real name or not, but _she_ told me to call her Dani Phantom."

**End Chapter**

**AN 1: This is more or less my rationalization as to why some of the bad things that happen to Danny will happen, with Clockwork not doing anything to stop it.**

**AN 2: Yeah, I don't really know how best to explain Vorpal's space manipulation. It's kinda like telekinesis, but not really. Vorpal's Leviathan Tamer's OC. LT explained it better than I could find the words to do so… yeah it's not that important anyway.**

**AN 3: This clock will be important later.**

**AN 4: This is the reason why Orpheus got tired earlier from using his ice powers to freeze the robbers. Don't worry, this effect will gradually fade**

**AN 5: Nymph's (Who is princessbinas OC) spells are in Italian according to the Google Translator. What they say is unimportant, as the effects will either be told before hand or be obvious (In this case, obvious as it summoned a dragon to attack Vorpal)**

**Fun chapter to write.**

**Remember, every time you read a chapter and don't submit a review for it, God kills a puppy.**


	12. Chapter 12

**I'M STILL ALIVE! YAY!**

**Review Reply Time!**

The Virus: **How did they meet? That is a long and awesome story… That will be saved for another time! (^-^) Attendant: Sir, Black Death has been spotted on the horizon. Me: Tell the RPG team to have fun with him. *Multiple explosions later* Attendant: Sir, nothing remains of Black Death. Me: Nuke the area a few times just to be safe, and then wall it off.** ***Turns to the screen* Your move Virus.**

RockStar: **Thanks!**

Warlord:** Alright**

coldblue: **He's not from a different time line. Neither is Nymph. Their OC's created by the winners of the contest on Chapter 10. As for the ice powers… that's not a permanent thing. After a while, Danny will get used to them and then using them will be easy again. For the harem idea (If it happens, that is) the magic number is 2, with 3 being the absolute really-pushing-it limit. "**As long as the 3rd girl is not HUMAN or PART HUMAN**"? Umm, Ok? (-_-) That doesn't sound too right. ****First question****: Possibly. That will be revealed at a later date. ****Second Question****: Nymph is princessbinas's OC. That's where she comes from, until I feel like elaborating. As for how Dani knows her… As said above that is a long and fascinating story… that will be told at a later time. ****Third Question****: Dani is… somewhere interesting. And they will… eventually. (And when I say eventually, I mean it'll be a long time coming) ****Fourth Question****: I like to think things like this shouldn't be rushed.**

unknown: **They will be unknowingly helping Danny overcome the trauma just by being there. (*Spoiler*Especially Raven*Spoiler end*) Actually helping will happen eventually.**

Weirdo: **Good to hear. Valerie will appear around the same time as the GIW, ghostly villains and all the other baddies from Amity.**

unknown: **No. Unstabilized happened before Ultimate Enemy in my DP timeline.**

Sparxthehedgehog:** Nymph helps just like the rest of the Titans (Especially Raven). By being there for him. Ever heard the phrase "Time heals all wounds"? Kind of like that.**

dannyphantom4eve: **Umm… I really hate to break it to you…. But that will probably never happen... Sorry…**

Yin And Yang: **Um… (You're review confuses me so please bear with me) Thanks? Yes it was Tucker… You can still submit an OC, there's just no guarantee it will be used… I'm confused, are you FOR or AGAINST the harem? And thanks? (I think…)**

anon: **Little early to tell, don't you think? Besides, if you would prefer one of those stories where the main character is godlike, can do no wrong, can have no wrong happen to him, and completely wipes the floor with everyone, then I can tell you right now that you're looking in the wrong place.**

Kelly Kelly: **Are you absolutely sure? **(No) **Exactly, why take a chance? XD**

coldblue: **Yes, I am still alive. Studying for exams takes up almost all of my time.** **Marvel Phantom eh? Hmm, guess I'll check it out. l:3**

hullo: **kh reference? I wasn't aware I made one. (What is a kh reference?) And thanks!**

**Poll is now CLOSED! Results!**

**1****st**** Place: Be quietly angry at me but give the story a chance and continue ****reading at 24! ****2****nd**** Place: Be happy and continue reading**** at 22! ****3****rd**** Place: Be furious and stop reading or reviewing in protest**** at 16. ****4****th**** Place: Not feel one way or another**** 13!**

**So those are the results. I'll admit I was surprised with the results. I thought for sure that "Be furious" would be overwhelmingly in first place. What this poll tells me is that it mostly depends on my ability as a writer whether or not a harem would be a good thing. Curious… I've always said that the poll influences my decision. It alone isn't the decision so… My verdict is... something that will be revealed in a few chapters. You may now begin praising me for my evilness. (^-^)**

**TO EVERYBODY (Just to get this out of the way since I KNOW some people are thinking this way): No this is not a Danny/Nymph nor will it ever be. Even if I do go forward with the harem idea, she will not be available as a choice of one of the girls for Danny to (eventually) hook up with. A close, kind of bratty, annoying yet lovable little sister is the role Nymph will play in relation to Danny. That is not open to debate! I'm playing with the idea of possibly putting Nymph with somebody else. (Beastboy?… **_**(If Terra doesn't end up hooking up with him)**_**?**

**So… yeah. Don't think I have anything else to say.**

**Chapter 12**

**Unknown Location**

Slade was many things. He was both a flunky and a leader, able to take orders and give them, even though more often than not he gave them. He knew what it was like to be on the lowest rung on the ladder of organized crime, to all the way to the top. He was both a merchant of death and a drug lord. At one time, he was a master assassin by trade, hired by governments and criminal organizations alike. At another time, he was a body guard, again hired by both sides of the law. Most considered him to be a jack-of-all-trades.

However, if asked to describe himself, the easiest description to make was very simple. He thought of himself as a man who did things that were not always legal. Of course, that would usually mean that one was a criminal, wouldn't it? And wouldn't such a description be indefinitely simpler than labeling him as one who did things that "were not always legal"? Wrong. He did not think of himself as a criminal. It might just a simple case of pride, but he believed himself to be on a level far above any criminal.

Of course, to understand why exactly he thought so much of himself was simple. Anonymity. He was a unknown. He was the unpredictable factor, the variable in any equation whose actions could not be completely rationalized. Criminals were predictable in the way that their actions were almost always rationalized. His were not.

However, as he watched video after video of the team of teens, which would later be known as the Teen Titans, fighting Gordanians then, a little after that, separately fighting armed thugs, he was focused on two in particular.

The first one that caught his interest was Robin, the highly trained and weaponized fighting machine. He fought with a controlled impulsivity that reminded him scarily of his own, with a speed, strength, and skill to near match.

The second one that was interesting was the mysterious Orpheus. Having never heard of this one before, he attempted to divine his origins through technology. Which ended in a complete and utter dead end. The first time he appeared anywhere was on a rooftop opposite the bank, where he proceeded to stop the robbers that he had hired to rob the bank just for fun as he really didn't need the money. The only other thing that he got was a couple of Greek myths about someone also named Orpheus. Which were pretty much useless, as Modern Day Orpheus showed no signs yet as being Mythical Greek Orpheus.

'_I have to do more research before I could even thinking about doing anything focused on Orpheus. Now, Robin on the other hand…'_ Slade wasn't stupid. He wasn't immortal, not by a long shot. Even now he could feel it as he grew older. He was weakening, slowing down slowly but surely despite his best efforts. He wasn't afraid of death. He had long ago transcended such irrelevant things such as a fear of death. No, what he was afraid of was that, once he had died, he would be forgotten. His achievements would be erased, fading away to be lost forever to time. If he died, then all would be for naught, as his criminal empire devoured itself without his guidance. He would be reduced to just another criminal, brought low by the one enemy that eventually reduced all to dust. Time.

It was for that reason and that reason alone that he sought an apprentice. Someone to pick up the feared and weighty mantel of Slade. To continue what he had started.

Of course, at first he thought that the best heir for the title Slade would be one that would actually be his son, bound to him by blood as father and son. That would be the best, as that way he could ensure that his heir's physical attributes were closest to his own. It also ensured that he could train and groom him from day one to impart all of his skills, wisdom, and knowledge.

This plan hit a good many speed bumps. First off was that he was soulless to the point that he near didn't have any emotions at all. So it went without saying that he wasn't interested in any sort of loving relationship with any female or, really anyone in general. Really if cloning technology was a lot farther along than it was now then he wouldn't have need of one at all. But it wasn't so he ended up with few options.

The one he decided on was simple, if extremely distasteful. Find a female that possessed the notable traits that he needed in an heir in bulk, such as good physical condition and high intelligence. Research them extensively, their family history, medical records, everything to make sure that she was viable. Make sure that both sides of her family didn't have a history of diseases, cancer, drug abuse, or genetic disorders or, really anything that could cause problems in any sons she might have. Then kidnapping her, putting her in his own special built room, with a team of hired doctors, each paid enough to live comfortably for the rest of their lives. They'd restrain her and put her on a special cocktail of fertility drugs, and then when they all took effect they would inject himself into her, causing her to become pregnant with his child. Then after his son was born, they would inject her full of an experimental new drug that would wipe her memory and she would wake up back in her bed, with no recollection of the last nine and a half months.

Everything had gone as planned. They found an unwilling candidate. They kidnapped successfully. They impregnated her successfully. Only she didn't have a son. Against his wishes, she had a daughter. Which was a problem for him. He was male. As such, for a seamless passing of his mask from him to his successor, his heir too had to be male. Oh, there was no sense in wasting all the resources that he had put into his new daughter. He'd still give her all the training he'd have originally given her had she been male, but now he had to repeat the process in order to get a viable successor. And repeat it he did. And that time he got a male, just as he intended the first time.

That was about fifteen years ago. He had sent them both to an automated training facility on a secluded mountain top, built specifically for the training of his off spring. The plan was for them to do the majority of their training there, and when that was finished he personally oversee the rest of their training himself. Then, when his son was ready, he would step down and assume a position as an advisor while his son would assume the mantle of Slade, with the new Slade's own half sister being his top agent. Then, when his son began to slow and age, he would repeat the process that he, the current Slade, had done in continuing the legacy beyond his own life span. And, in this manner, the name Slade would be remembered forever, not as an old, forgotten past, but as a reality. Just like a phoenix, reincarnating himself every couple of centuries. In this manner, Slade would be immortal. Forever lasting.

But, it seemed, it was not meant to be. His son, his _legacy_, did not want this life. His fourteen year old son had run away and was using his training to remain hidden. Apparently his mental conditioning wasn't enough to ensure loyalty and he had made a mistake in not making the facility like a prison. His son had been skipping off to a nearby village and found that he'd enjoy life more doing something else than he'd planned for him to do. Oh, his daughter supposedly loyal to him and was faithfully continuing her training, just as planned. He installed security to make escape impossible anyway.

Now, though, he had another problem. In another life, it would have been simple to simply repeat the process again for another male son. However, that course of action was no longer open to him. Because of him being on a drug regimen designed to slow the weakening of his body and mind he had become sterile. Having not the fore sight to freeze some of his seed before this happened; the path of having an heir bound to him by blood was beyond him forever.

At first, it seemed that he would have to allow himself to fade after all or allow his daughter to take his place. Neither of which he wanted to happen. Not only would people notice if he suddenly switched genders, but it was also because, as the old saying went "One bad apple spoils the bunch". Sure his daughter _said_ she was still loyal to him, but he couldn't be sure that her half-brother hadn't got to her.

Then Robin entered the picture. He was already trained, possibly better than either of his children, by the Dark Knight himself. He had already distanced himself from said Dark Knight, making him ripe for shanghaiing into being his apprentice, then slowly converting him into his successor. He could see it in the boy. If he could see his eyes, he was sure that they'd be burning with a fire identical to the flames that burned within him. As soon as he got him to abandon his pathetic morals, he'd have his successor and legacy. All that lay between him and Robin was his new team. A team that had yet to be tested.

A test then. To see how they performed against an opponent whose capabilities he was more familiar with. So then, he sent Cinderblock to free Plasmus from Prison. Cinderblock was a dumb brute, to be sure, but he was durable and strong. What followed was a disappointment. Not only did Robin allow Cinderblock to succeed in his mission, he drove off two teammates in the process._ 'That'll be a problem.'_ Mused Slade. _'I'll be sure to have to teach him how and when to play well with others.'_

Slade smirked, an action hidden by his mask. Just because he had intended Cinderblock to fail, didn't mean he should abandon his plan.

**A few hours later, same unknown location.**

A loud stomping sound echoed through the corridor, created by Cinderblock as he walked, carrying a still sleeping human-Plasmus over his shoulder. Stopping, he opened a chamber in the room. It had a throne sitting in the middle. And sitting on that throne was Slade.

He tapped his foot impatiently as Cinderblock approached. "Ah, Cinderblock. I trust you were successful?" Cinderblock presented the capsule containing Plasmus as an answer. "Good. Wake him."

Cinderblock twisted the top off of the container and dumped the contents onto the floor, waking the human form of Plasmus. As he opened his eyes, panic set it. "I—I'm Awake?! I can never be awake! I'm only human when I'm sleeping!"

Slade nodded in ascension. "Yes, but for what I have planned, your human form is too weak. I need Plasmus."

That statement seemed to trigger a reaction as, before his very eyes. Plasmus's skin bulged and began to purple and slough off. His mouth widened as is teeth disappeared. His eyes turned green and his hair disappeared.

Now, standing before Slade, was the slime monster, Plasmus. Slade gave a cold laugh.

"Good, let's begin the next phase."

**Rooftop, later**

Orpheus grit his teeth for what had to have been the fifth time that day. After he found out that Nymph's friend was Dani, the only fully functional (And stable, at least now) clone out a few dozen created of himself. The only clone that survived. The only clone that he knew of, that came out female, somehow. Dani was, as far as he knew, the only member of his family still living, even if it was in the same unnatural half life that he himself lived.

As he was sitting on top of the roof of the hotel they (read 'he', seeing as she magically didn't have any money and he did) had rented a room in. Half way through the night though he found himself unable to sleep in his bed and left the room where Nymph was sleeping in her own bed. **(AN1)** He climbed on top of the roof and stayed there, thinking on how he might go about finding the only female half ghost the he knew of in existence. _'How the hell do you find someone that can turn invisible, intangible, and fly?'_ And it was true. He never found Dani. Whenever she was becoming unstable, she sought him out, not the other way around. Every couple of months or two after she almost melted, she crash in the spare bedroom whenever she got tired of traveling, Jazz finding some excuse to get their parents out the house. They'd hang out for a while, Dani and Danny would have a few friendly matches and exchange tips and tricks for ghost hunting, then Sam would give her some traveling money as well as a new wardrobe, Danny would supply her with a few ghost gadgets and off she'd go. He still remembered what she'd told him when he'd asked about her obsession with traveling one time.

_*Flashback*_

"_It's just, like I don't know. After I was created I spent almost all of my time locked up being tested on by Vlad to see why I wasn't so unstable like the others. When he wasn't doing that, he was spending time pretending to be a "caring father" and teaching how to use my powers. I remember though, no matter what we were doing he never let me leave the mansion. That time that he sent me after you was the first time I'd ever been out of the mansion, period. Afterwards, when everything was said and done with that whole affair, I didn't know where to go. I could see that, despite you're many complaints about it, you were happy with the life that you had and, well, I was afraid of messing that up. All I knew was that I wasn't going to be spending time cooped up in one place like that again for a while now. So I decided that it would be good for me to spend some time traveling. I found out that life on the road had a certain… allure. And now it just feels even better. Because, I know, that no matter where I go or what I see, I can always come back here… Right?"_

_*End Flashback*_

A though suddenly came to him, causing to freeze up and a cold sweat to appear on his forehead. _'She doesn't know.'_ He hadn't see Dani since the GIW captured him. She didn't know the new danger of going ghost. She didn't know that transforming and being in ghost form was like holding a flare as bright as the sun in a dark room, just asking for the GIW to find her.

Another thought, darker than the first, came to him. When Dani was in trouble the first time, she went to Amity looking for him and his friends to help. Whenever she visited afterwards, it was because she was feeling run down or was out of money, or got hurt somehow and needed a place to heal. Bottom line: whenever Dani got in trouble, she came to Amity looking for him and his friends to help. _'Not only does she not know that I'm not in Amity any longer, she doesn't know that Sam will sooner turn her over to the GIW than she will help her at all.'_

There was only one thing that stopped him from abandoning Jump City and any hope of rejoining the Titans right then and there. During his entire length of his captivity, they had never proven that they had Dani, something they would have taken much glee in doing once they had her. Sam had, of course, gleefully told them all about Dani, and her origins, as well as how close the younger half ghost was to him. Seeking to further torture him, they had pretended to have any number of people that were close to him, Dani included.

The thing was, he could tell their fakes apart from the real thing easy enough, and they could let him see and even touch any host of body parts and pretend like they belonged to loved ones, but that didn't prove that they were. Hell, he remembered them bring in bins full of the stuff, dumping all over him. Then they would splash buckets of what they claimed to be the blood of loved ones in his face. Long story short, he was certain that they didn't have Dani when they had him. He was also dead certain that as soon as they did capture her, they would be sure to try and use her as bait to get him to come out of hiding. And seeing as he had yet to hear about it that meant that they had yet to capture Dani.

But that didn't mean she knew about their scanners. Or how Sam now worked for the GIW. Hell, for all he knew, they were closing in on her right now. But then, it could also mean that Dani did know and had gone off grid, just like he had. And that hope, small and fragile though it was, was the only thing that kept him in Jump City. _'And besides, if I rejoin the Titan's, it means that I have greater resources available to use to devote to finding her with anyway.'_

He heard a rush of air behind him and knew that the strange fairy girl had found him. "There you are!" Nymph cried, lunging to greet him with a hug, only for him to turn intangible at the last moment. She sniffled, having landed on the floor and hit her head on it. "You're so mean…"

Orpheus just rolled his eyes, an action that went unseen due to his goggles. Ignoring her last statement, he said "I wasn't exactly hiding, you know. Just needed to get some air."

"Yeah, yeah, that's what they all say." She fixed him with a dangerous glare. "You weren't thinking of skipping out on your promise, _were you_?" She asked, expression dark.

"N-o Ma'am" Orpheus stuttered out. Who knew how terrifying such a glare could be?

Nymph suddenly smiled brightly, completely doing a 180 in her expression, making Orpheus sweat drop. "Great!" She said, giggling.

'_Ok? One moment it looks like she's going to try and kill me, the next she sitting there giggling to herself. She's either bipolar, multiple personality, or just plain batshit crazy.'_ Were the thoughts of our resident halfa as he observed Nymph's giggling fit, which progressed quickly into a bout of maniacal laughter complete with the dark clouds, lighting, and the boom of thunder. _'Definitely batshit crazy. But then, who am I to judge?'_ He thought rather amusedly, remembering that he wasn't exactly a good advocate of mental health himself. He cleared his throat, getting her attention "So do you actually have any plan for finding Dani Phantom?"

"Nope!" She replied cheerfully, making his eye twitch in annoyance. In a light hearted tone, she continued "I would try and use that tracking spell I specifically made to find her, but for some reason it leads me to _you_ instead of her." Suddenly she adopted a serious tone. "You wouldn't happen to know why that was, would you?"

Orpheus frowned. He did have a pretty good idea why. But then, why would he tell somebody he had just met that it was probably because whatever spell she created to find Dani most likely found halfa's instead, and that was the reason why it lead her to him and not his clone? _'At least it didn't lead her to Vlad.'_ He thought, a bit relieved. He still had yet to see what Nymph could do, other than flight and spells, but Vlad was a tough opponent, no matter who you were or what you could do. He knew that from experience.

"From what it sounds like, this Dani Phantom sounds like she has abilities like that of ghosts. Flying, ghost rays, intangibility, invisibility, things like that?" Orpheus said, being as accurate as he dared with the abilities he knew Dani had.

Nymph nodded. "She can do a good bit more than that, but that's the general idea of it, why?"

Orpheus continued. "Is she a ghost?"

_That_ gave Nymph a pause. Of course, Orpheus knew the answer, but he didn't want to tell anyone this early in the game, much less somebody that he just met, despite her apparent relationship with Dani.

Nymph gave him a strange look. Suddenly, she grabbed her wand from where it situated at her waist. Chanting in a voice too low to hear without enhancing his hearing, she waved her wand in a few rather complex motions, before a bright light suddenly emanated from its tip, blinding him. When his eye sight returned, she was standing there looking at him, wand clipped back on her belt and a serious look on her face. Only this time, as he looked around there was some sort of heat haze that went around the two of them in a perfect circle.

Nymph nodded to herself, pleased. "There, now nobody can be spying on us. As for your question…" She paused, biting her lower lip. "Can you keep a secret?"

Orpheus nodded, prompting her to continue. "She's a half ghost." She paused after that statement, clearly expecting some kind of reaction from him.

Orpheus blinked several times, eyebrows rising to become hidden behind his raven bangs. "Excuse me?" He said in a tone that suggested incredulity. Somewhere in the back of his mind though, he was thinking _'If this hero gig doesn't work out, I might have a future as an actor… Ha! Who am I kidding? If this "hero gig" doesn't work out, I'll have more important things to worry about than an acting career.'_

Nymph nodded, oblivious to the fake nature of his 'surprise'. "You heard right. A half ghost."

"How does something like that even come into existence? I sincerely doubt that you're going to tell me that she has one dead parent and one living."

"She _claims_ to be the secret sister of the Lost Hero, who shares all his powers." Orpheus's eyes widened ever so slightly at the mention of his ghostly alter ego.

When the GIW captured him, Phantom had apparently become a rather well known about name thanks to the GIW broadcasting across the country that he was a terrorist, serial killer and rapist, pedophile, wife beater (Even though to his knowledge he had never been married), and just slapping on any bad label on him that they could in a no-holds-barred smear campaign in an attempt to quiet Phantom's fan bases that were wondering just where he had disappeared off to. Retribution was swift however, as the furious Phans (As Phantom's hardcore fans had named themselves) retaliated anywhere they could. They did everything from handing out merchandise with his DP symbol, to passing out flyers in the street, the more extreme ones hacking news channels and forcing them to play videos showcasing his heroics. That sparked a veritable small war between the Phan's and the GIW. A war that was fought using words and campaign, rather than guns.

It didn't really go anywhere, but the political clash attracted interest that expanded the ranks of Phan's as well as others. Rewards were posted by the Phan's and GIW both, attracting bounty hunters for both sides. Conspiracy nuts used his disappearance as another example of the "oppression of the fascist government". It became a pass time for defense or prosecution attorney's to work on his case, either trying to clear him of all charges, or bury him deeper with new ones. PI's were hired by the wealthy Phan's. Even super hero's occasionally were rumored to be "looking into it". All the publicity lead to several news papers and news channels doing a few stories about him. In those stories, they each gave him his moniker. Some were nice, some were not, but one that ended up sticking was the "Lost Hero". **(AN2)** When he himself learned of it, he liked it. _'It's certainly a better moniker than "Damn Ghost" to be sure.'_

"And I take it you don't believe her." Orpheus commented dryly, earning a nod in reply.

"They look similar, I'll give her that. And they _did_ have a lot of the same powers. But that's it. If she was his sister, wouldn't she know just where he disappeared off to? Besides, Phantom was a full ghost and she's only half right?"

"Who can say for sure?" Orpheus said noncommittally, giving the fairy girl neither a yes nor a no as well as ignoring the fact that she referred to Phantom, to _him_, in past tense. Like he was dead. Gone. A thing of the past. Never to be seen again.

"What does it matter anyway?" Nymph asked, curious about why he needed this information.

"Because I think I know why you're tracking spell lead you to me and not her." Orpheus replied, closing his eyes and folding his arms over his chest. He remained quiet for a second, thinking of how best to explain it in a way that didn't give away his secret. He opened his eyes and hid a smile as he came up with the perfect excuse.

"I know that ghosts are made up of ectoplasm, right?" At Nymph's nod, he continued. "So then, it would be right to say that Dani is, at least partially, composed of ectoplasm?" Nymph nodded again, not really understanding just where he was going with this. "I think that, instead of tracking Dani, your spell tracks down concentrations of ectoplasmic energy. This would mean that, instead of finding Dani, you would be lead to ghosts, half ghosts, and, considering I gained my powers via an infusion of ectoplasm, me." He wasn't exactly lying either. Becoming a half ghost _did_ involve an infusion of ectoplasm, as far as he could tell.

"Are you a half ghost?" The question was innocent enough. Said in a tone conveying nothing but openness and honest curiosity, but, never the less, he hesitated in providing an answer. On one hand, he had yet to lie in his extremely short career as "Orpheus". Give half truths and avoid answering certain questions were the closest he had come to lying so far. On the other hand, he hoped to actually have a long career as "Orpheus" and spilling his secrets this early could jeopardize that. It wasn't a matter of trust. He knew that if Dani trusted her enough to tell her that she was a half ghost then she was more than trustworthy enough for him to tell her all about his. Only one thing stopped him. The fact that he didn't know her. He didn't know this girl, with fairy wings and a wand. He didn't know this girl who acted like he was a close friend after just meeting. He didn't know her. And right now, that was reason enough not to tell her. Even if he had to lie, he would.

"No." He said flatly, crossing his arms over his chest and looking away. "I got some ghost powers from a rather unfortunate lab accident, but I'm not a half ghost. I don't really know what word you could use to categorize me, but I'm sure half ghost isn't it."

"So that means that the only method that I have for finding her is a shot in the dark as to whether or not it will actually lead me to her. Just great." Nymph whined, hanging her head.

"It's not _that_ hopeless." Orpheus encouraged gently. "A tracking spell isn't the only way to find someone. Granted, Dani's various abilities will make finding her all the harder, especially if she's using them to hide, but it's not impossible."

"Nice to see you're so hopeful."

He grinned. "I got tired of moping around and complaining about how unfair life is. So now I try and look at the bright side of things."

"Words to live by." Nymph mumbled. Orpheus just kept smiling. "So how do you plan on finding her then? That spell was the only way I had to find her."

"Give me a second." Orpheus answered, waving her away distractedly and rubbing his chin, deep in thought. _'It's too bad I didn't get aura sensing until just recently. Make finding her a whole lot easier.'_

He snapped his fingers suddenly. _'It's a gamble, considering he might not be happy to see me, but it might just work…'_

"Got something?"

"Yeah, a light bulb."

"Excuse me?" Nymph tilted her head, looking slightly confused.

Chuckling, Orpheus said "You know, in those cartoons? The ones where a light bulb comes out of a character's head after he just had an idea?"

Nymph just gave him a blank stare. "I happen to know a spell that can do something similar."

"Really?" Orpheus said, curiosity peaked. _'I wonder if I could learn to use magic?... Nah!'_

"Yeah, so if you don't want me to use it on you, why don't you tell me your idea?" She snottily, turning up her nose at him, annoyed.

Orpheus just sweat dropped, but complied. "Well you see, first we got to find a friend of mine…"

**Line Break**

Cyborg wasn't in the best of moods. Even though his body could go weeks without rest as long as he kept himself repaired, batteries charged, and didn't exert himself, his mind couldn't. Even though his mind possessed a keen intellect and high IQ, something that was enhanced to even high levels due to half of his brain being replaced with a cybernetic-brain, his mind still needed to 'sleep' in order to recuperate and process all the new information or otherwise he would be stressed out and irritable. Of course, since half his brain was cybernetic, he couldn't just go to sleep. Unless he hooked himself up to all the various wires and cables needed to sleep, he could only sleep halfway, as he couldn't put the cybernetic part of his brain asleep. And sleeping half way was no substitute to actually sleeping.

So after an uneventful walk through the city, he ended up half sleeping on a bench, leaving him in a grouchy mood. It didn't help that Beastboy had been calling him all through yesterday, well through the night, and started again this morning. He did feel a little guilty about ignoring the green teen, but he really didn't feel like talking right now.

On a whim, he brought up his arm, activating and looking at a holographic display of a map of the city, complete with glowing dots on it to indicate the locations of the Titan's, or at least their communicators. Looking at it, he found that all but one of the Titan's were still at Titan's Tower. Given that the dots were color coded to the Titan that they were given to, (Robin's dot was red, Starfire's was orange, Beastboy's was green, Raven's was black, and Orpheus's was gray. His own would show up as a light blue on the other communicators.) he knew for a fact that it was Orpheus that was coming toward his position at a rather impressive speed. Cyborg could deactivate the homing beacon that showed his position on the communicators with a simple mental command. It would be easy and actually beneficial, considering that he would be saving the very small and inconsequential amount of power that it took to keep the homing beacon active. But he didn't. For he knew that Orpheus was using something that was arguably far more precise than technology to find him. It'd be pointless to turn off his beacon.

Cyborg turned to the direction that Orpheus was approaching from and waited. He didn't have to wait long though as Orpheus shimmered into existence on the opposite side of the street and began walking toward him.

Wordlessly, even though nobody seemed to notice the two, Cyborg pointed to a nearby rooftop. Orpheus nodded and Cyborg got up from the bench he was sitting on, silently making their way there.

For a full minute, nobody said anything. Orpheus was staring off into the distance, trying to work out how to say what he had to say. Cyborg was staring straight at him, trying to meet his goggle covered eyes. At last, Cyborg's patience ran out and he barked out in a gruff voice "Well? You gonna say anything or just stare out into space all day?"

Orpheus didn't respond immediately. He acted like he didn't hear him at first, then he slowly turned and looked him straight in the face. "I need your help to find somebody."

"Really? How convenient." Cyborg replied sarcastically, glaring at the black haired teen.

"Not really." Deadpanned Orpheus.

"I think there's something more important that we need to talk about first." Cyborg said after a while, earning an irritated and slightly apprehensive look from Orpheus. "Why did you tell me?"

Orpheus knew what he was talking about. But that didn't mean that he had an answer. He just stared at Cyborg, not sure as to how to continue.

His silence prompted Cyborg to continue. "Look man, we just met. That being said, you need to understand that there are some things that I'm not ready to tell you. What I don't understand is, why did you tell me something like that to someone you met not a week ago? Especially something like that?"

Orpheus was silent for a second. Then "I don't know. I really don't. The only sort of explanation that I could come up with is that you're like me." At Cyborg's raised eye brow, he chuckled. "Aw, come on. Both of us victims of some sort of accident that turned us into couple of monsters?"

Cyborg couldn't help but chuckle. "Well, when you put it _that_ way…" They settled into an uncomfortable silence, until Cyborg noticed something else that Orpheus had just said. "You're not a monster."

Orpheus just gave him a sad smile, as if he didn't believe him. "Yeah, sure."

Defeated, Cyborg tried a different approach. "You remember a couple of days ago, on that day that we became a team?"

Orpheus nodded, not sure where he was going with this. "Yeah, the day that Starfire crash landed. Why?"

"Because it seems like you forgot something about that day." Cyborg answered bluntly.

Orpheus raised an eye brow. "What did I forget?"

"That you helped out too." Orpheus gave Cyborg a confused look, so he continued. "Look, were you coerced to help?"

Orpheus had the decency to suppress a offended look, settling for another look of confusion. "Of course not. I chose to-"

"Exactly! You _chose_ to help! You chose to help, even though you knew that there was a chance that you could get hurt, even killed, doing it." Cyborg said in a rather forceful tone, interrupting Orpheus. In a gentler tone, he continued with his speech. "You _cared_. You cared enough to _help_. Trust me, I've seen monsters…" His eyes seemed to glaze over, and then he shook himself. Putting a heavy hand on Orpheus's shoulder, he said "A true monster wouldn't care. A true monster is one who has the power to help, yet does nothing. Having a power like yours doesn't make you a monster. Not using it to help others does. That's all that evil needs to win; for good people, people like _you_, to do nothing."

Cyborg took his hand off of Orpheus's shoulder, staring at the hidden halfa meaningfully. Orpheus, however, was lost in his own world.

_*Flashback*_

"_All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."Samantha Mason, aka Sam, quoted, smirking at her two male friends._

"_Who is that, Edmund Burke?" Danny Fenton, aka Danny Phantom, resident super hero and high school student, asked, getting a vigorous shake-of-the-head from his best friend, Tucker Foley. Or 'Tucker, as in __Too Fine'__, as he introduced himself to pretty ladies, usually ensuring that they would never be interested him in "that way", nor would they want to see him again, unless forced by circumstance. Circumstance that Tucker conviently mistook as either "them wanting to him again" or that they are "fated to be together"._

"_Naw, man. I'm pretty sure she got that out of a movie somewhere! Definitely didn't get it out of English Class!" Tucker cracked up, getting a glare from the resident Goth._

"_What're you trying to say, techboy?" She growled out, incensed. Tucker just rolled his eyes at her silent threat._

"_I'm trying to say that eating all that grass definitely can't be helping you're brain, especially with how hard Mr. Lancer's class is already." Tucker replied, oblivious to the seething Goth in front of him._

"_Why you little….!? I'll have you know that my grade in his class is higher than yours!"_

"_Speaking of Mr. Lancer, why do you think that he called this meeting?" Danny said, not interested in having to break up another fight in what had been a peaceful morning. No ghost's had attacked recently, Vlad was quiet, Dash had been leaving him alone lately, and this was the first argument that they'd had in a long time. Things were looking up for the unfortunate halfa_

"_Didn't your sister say it was about some test we're going have to take or something?" Sam answered, Danny nodding in agreement when he heard her._

"_Now that you mention it, you're right. Something about some kind of CAT test or something?"_

"_Whatever man!" Tucker declared, appearing between them and throwing an arm around each of their shoulders, pulling them close. "I'm sure it's nothing for _us_ to worry about, right?" He declared, getting sounds of agreement from his two closest friends._

_*End Flashback*_

Orpheus blinked when Cyborg began snapping his fingers in front of his face. "Yo, Earth to Orpheus. You ok man?"

Orpheus shook his head for a second, clearing away the cob webs. "Yeah, I'm good. What were you saying?"

"I was asking whether or not you wanted me to keep it secret. You know, about the whole 'suppressed power thing?"

Orpheus put on a thinking face, but in reality, he already knew his answer. "For now, keep it to yourself, but if you're asked, don't lie and you can tell anybody on the team if a situation comes up and they need to know."

Cyborg nodded thoughtfully to himself. "I think I can live with that, at least for now. Now didn't you say something to me about finding someone?"

Orpheus nodded with a grin. Gesturing, he got Cyborg to bend at the waist as he whispered his plan into his ear. Cyborg frowned. "I'm afraid for that to work; we'd have to be at Titan's Tower." He said at last, after thinking it over.

Orpheus nodded. "I thought as much." They remained quiet for a second. Then Orpheus caught and looked Cyborg straight in his human eye. "We messed up, didn't we?"

Cyborg didn't need to even ask about what he was talking about. "Yeah, big time." He was quiet for a moment longer. "How do we fix it?"

Orpheus frowned slightly. "I got an idea or two. It's going to take a good bit of luck though."

"Why don't we just go back, swallow our stupid male pride, and apologize?" Cyborg just blurted out. It was the easiest method and, like it or not, Robin _did_ need Cyborg at the very least, as none of the others were as good with technology as he was. And if he took Cyborg back, then he had to take Orpheus back as well.

"Aw, come on, where's the fun in that?" Said a female voice from… somewhere?

'_There it is.'_ Cyborg thought to himself as he focused his cybernetic eye and picked up distortions in the air like heat waves to his right. Switching to thermal, he confirmed that there was indeed someone there and trained his sonic cannon at it. "Show yourself!"

Orpheus just groaned as Nymph dropped the Disillusionment spell she was holding with an "Eep!" And then flew behind him, using him as a shield and shaking like a leaf, peaking over his shoulder at the big man pointing a cannon at them. Orpheus just groaned again as Cyborg yelled "Who the hell is she?"

'_This is going to be one long ass day.'_

**Line Break**

Robin sunk a fist into the punching bag. Without pause, he quickly drew it out and repeated the action with his other hand. He kept up a rhythm, noticeable to none but him. The only sound in the room was the sound of his gloves hitting the rough fabric of the red punching bag in front of him. He pounded into it relentlessly, eagerly trying to pound out the feelings of guilt at the same time. Sweat beaded on his brow, his arms began to burn from the exertion, and the edges of his vision were darkening, a byproduct of him not doing much breathing, instead focusing on beating the life out of the red bag in front of him. But still he pushed on, unaware of the worried green eyes of a certain Tameranian that were focused on him from the opened doorway. His knee's suddenly buckled and, completely unprepared with one arm halfway to the punching bag, he fell to the ground, letting out a cry, one mixed with both pain and frustration.

Pain having brought his senses back to fine alert, he waved off help from a worried Starfire. "I'm fine Star." He lied forcefully through gritted teeth, waving her away again as he got up slowly. He experienced no problems, until he tried to stand up fully from a kneeling position. As soon as he tried to take his left knee off the ground, having experienced no problems with the right knee, pain shot through his leg and he collapsed again.

"I said I'm fine Starfire!" He yelled angrily when he felt her slender yet strong arms wrap around his torso and began to pick him up. Starfire recoiled at the anger in his voice. At the same time, her eyes hardened.

"_No_, Friend Robin, you are not fine. You're grievously hurt. Why will you not allow me to help you go to the room of healing?" Starfire replied in a rare 'no nonsense' voice, belittling the worry she felt.

"I'm—I just…" Robin just shook his head. "Just…. Can you just leave me here for now Star?"

Starfire stared at him for a second, face scrunched up in thought. After a second, or two, she said "Very well. I shall come back in minutes of five. If you are still on the floor when I return, then I shall take you to the room of healing, whether you like it or not. If, however, you are continuing with the strengthening of your body in any way for the rest of today, then I will restrain you until I am certain you are no longer hurt, ok?" Not waiting for an answer, Starfire gave him a cheerful smile, and then flew away, closing the door and leaving him speechless.

Still sitting on the floor, he rubbed his leg slowly, feeling the pain slowly start fading. _'Why'd she overact like that? It's just lightly bruised. Nothing I can't walk off if you give me a minute.'_ Still, her concern was touching, if unneeded.

Looking around, he gazed at a _very_ big set of weights. They were tucked away in the corner, out of the way. And given that the weights were in the tons, there were only two people that would have a use for them. And given that one of them didn't have much of an interest in weight lifting, he knew that they belonged to Cyborg.

And therein laid the source of his guilt. He had known it at the time. Somewhere, deep in the very far back of his head, he had known that he was the one who had messed up. He knew it, yet he denied it in a childish attempt to avoid being the one blamed for the failure of the mission to stop Cinderblock. Their very first mission as a team. What was worse was that it was under his leadership. It was his responsibility and not only did it fail, it was because of _him_ that it failed. And just to rub salt into an open wound, then he had to go and try and blame it on someone else, resulting in not one but _two_ people leaving. _'Maybe it would've been better if Orpheus lead after all.'_ He thought glumly, recalling how he had hacked the system of security cameras for the prison and cut it away so that he only had the moments that he knew that he messed up. He had zoomed in on where he knew his failure had occurred, but the quality on the video wasn't good enough to make out what he knew was happening, so he put it through a number of enhancement programs. Remembering them, he checked his watch and, seeing that enough time had passed for them to be done, decided to head off to his room.

Getting up, his leg only causing minor discomfort now, he walked briskly to his room, passing a glum Beastboy holding a phone in the hall way on the way there. Upon arriving, he went to his laptop that was sitting on his plain wooden desk. He opened it and powered it up; hitting "Play" once it had done so. A single cut out segment of the prison video tapes, quality enhanced and zoomed in to showcase the milliseconds before, during, and after Robin's leg hit Cyborg's and set off the spin that let Cinderblock escape.

Robin just stared as he watched his leg hit Cyborg in quick succession. Not even bothering to stop the video, he left his room to wander the hall. Again passing a desolate Beastboy holding a phone, he couldn't help but glance at the green Titan. It was easy to see that Beastboy, with nothing to distract him, was depressed over the loss of two friends, one in particular. Something that was surprising was that, after getting to know one another, the two became quick friends. _'No, strike that, close as childhood friends, brothers even.'_ Robin amended. It was strange, considering how Cyborg was a meat loving incredibly smart and driven cyborg, while Beastboy was an incredibly laid back tofu loving changeling with slightly below average intelligence. But there was no denying that the two had become as thick as thieves in the short amount of time that they had been together. A fact that lead to another potential problem.

'_He and Starfire get along fine, and the same could be said for me. But he and Raven can barely be in the same room together without an argument breaking out after an extended amount of time. He must've realized by now, or he will soon, that with Cyborg gone there's really not much keeping him here.'_ It was rather disturbing to think about the fact that a proud team of six could soon become a team of three. And even that much was doubtful. He was pretty sure that Starfire wasn't anywhere close to leaving just yet, seeing as the alien seemed to have a bit of admiration for him. But Raven was another case entirely, seeing as she was impossible to read in any way, shape, or form other than moments where she was clearly pissed off. It was impossible for him to make any sort of prediction of how Raven would act in response to these events long term. Right now, the only seen effect it had on the Dark Titan was that she spent more time in her room or meditating than she did before.

His thoughts on just how long he would actually _have_ a team to lead were interrupted by an alarm sounding through the tower.

Running to the Ops room, he encountered the rest of the Titan's already there. "Is it Cinderblock again?"

Beastboy sighed. "You wish."

**End Chapter**

**Author note 1: Yes, they were sleeping in different beds. How justified was my paranoia in including this detail?**

**Author note 2: I wanted to give Danny Phantom a different moniker than the "Ghost Hero" or anything in relation to his half ghost status. Sue me.**

**I'm just going to come out and say it. I don't like this chapter. What do you call it when you know what you want to write (Or type, as in this case) but don't know how to word it? Because that was just the reoccurring theme for me in writing this entire chapter.**

**Meh, I'll get over it. Still going to probably go back and rewrite and reword this chapter though.**

**Still, that's no excuse not to REVIEW!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Review Reply Time!**

newboy: **You're right. That is rather ironic.**

Weirdo: **Spare Terra and kill Sam in her place? Hmm… I'll think about it.**

coldblue: **Question 1: You'll just have to wait and see. Question 2: As I said, their romance isn't the main focus of the story. Things like this are best taken slow, in my opinion. Question 3: You're assuming that Nymph finds Dani first. Question 4: I might put a poll up. Or not. Really, I've yet to decide. Question 5: Should be faster. **(Second Review) **Meh, its cool.**

Sparxthehedgehog: **Well, I'm sorry that it is an annoyance for you. But I kind of prefer breaking it up like this. Putting it all together makes cliff hangers harder, as well as drastically slowing down updates.**

The Virus: ***Hears screams off in the distance* Me: Get me Ichigo Kurosaki! Attendant: Yes sir! *Brings Ichigo* Ichigo: What do ya need? Me: There's something screaming off in the distance. Go kill it and bring me its head. *Ichigo pulls out his Zanpakuto in Shika release and runs off. Comes back with a woman's head.* Ichigo: Here ya go. Anything else? Me: No, you're dismissed. (And, yes, I am also a Bleach fan.)**

Rockstar: **Question 1: Some will, some won't. Question 2: Soon. Question 3: They will be… interesting, to say the least.**

Guest: **Alright**

Warlord: **Thanks for the vote of confidence. And Dani's ghost form? At this point I honestly have no idea whether or not it will change.**

Goodgirl275: **Thanks. I'll look back and try and find the mistake but for future reference it would help me greatly if you would point out just where in the chapter you found the mistake, other than just saying that you found a mistake.**

Hullo: **Oh, you mean Kingdom Hearts 2? Yeah, I drew inspiration for the scene from that scene in the game between Leon and Cloud when their surrounded by Heartless**

KellyKelly: **Thanks! Penguins…. Hmm. Yup, still hilarious to see a penguin sliding on its belly. XD**

Yin and Yang: **I see. Well, congratulations on achieving your goal of confusing me for a few seconds.**

unknown:** It's going to take a while. Not any time soon.**

**Hmm…. Wow, got nothing more to say (T.T) So…**

**On With The Show!**

**Chapter 13**

The air was nice and cool against Robin's skin, as he flew through the air. Or, rather, the air was nice and cool against his skin as Starfire gripped the undersides of his arms as she flew through the air near silently. Indeed, it was very relaxing and peaceful, going through the as he was in a near unsuspended state. During his career as the boy wonder, and even before that when he was still a part of the circus, he had been subjected to various different methods of flight. And each and every different method only reminded and reinforced the fact that, while he might have an alias by the name of 'Robin', he was not capable of flight himself, as his bird namesake was. It also reinforced that, out of all the super powers that he could possibly get, the ability of flight was the one that would have been the most liberating and enjoyable to have.

As relaxing as it was to feel the cool moist air against his skin, he forced himself to focus on the task at hand. Plasmus had finally resurfaced, only this time as his slime monster alter ego, and had set off the alarms at some chemical waste storage facility own by VladCo.

'_Ugh, is he _drinking_ that stuff?'_ Robin though, disgusted as he looked through the hole in the wall that Plasmus had went through. _'Disgusting. And it looks like he's getting bigger from it too. So that's the plan. If drinks all the chemical waste in here, he'll get so big it'll be near impossible to stop him!'_

Starfire quickly flew ahead of him and blasted the bottom out of the barrel of slime that Plasmus was drinking out of and succeeding in getting the criminal's attention.

"That stuff _can't_ be good for you." Robin stated. Plasmus just let out a rather loud belch as a response. "Oh dude, nice one!" Beastboy said, giving Plasmus a thumbs up.

"Titan's go!" Robin yelled, charging forward. Letting out a roar that sounded like he was gurgling something at the same time, Plasmus waved his hand and out of it shot a hail of slime bullets.

"Scatter!" Robin said unnecessarily, rolling to the side to avoid the hail.

Chanting low under her breath, Raven picked up several of the nearby emptied barrels with her magic and sent them shooting toward the slime monster. They buried themselves halfway into his chest and sent him stumbling back. Plasmus looked at the barrels buried into his chest with a sort of detached wonder, then closed his eyes and focused. He took in a deep breath, and then seemed to deflate as the barrel were suddenly shooting out of his chest, back at Raven who quickly dipped low to avoid them.

Charging forward with a yell, he jumped high into the air and put his entire force behind a kick in an attempt to hurt the sledge monster. Unfortunately, he suffered a fate similar to the barrels of earlier; his leg got buried half way to the knee into the monster. Growling, he tried to punch his way out of the slime that had suctioned around his leg, hoping to find some leverage _somewhere_ in the monster that he would be able to use to push his leg out. He found none, ending with his hand stuck just like his foot. "Let me go, you giant zit!" Robin screamed in frustration, taking out his Bo staff and began hitting the monster with it repeatedly. This seemed to get his attention, as seconds later he became a human cannon ball by being shot out of the monster and colliding with an unlucky Beastboy.

"Robin! Beastboy!" Starfire called out, worried.

"I'm ok!" Robin yelled back.

"Dude…" Beastboy muttered, seeing stars, before quickly shaking the stars away.

Robin recovered quickly though, throwing a few bird-a-rangs at Plasmus. They had little effect however, other than annoying the criminal.

Beastboy, in the form of a green, took flight above the slime monster, circling. Letting out a cry, he suddenly dove, scratching Plasmus's head. Plasmus let out another gurgly roar, swiping at the falcon. He somehow he managed to hit the small bird, sending Beastboy to the ground moments later.

Taking the offensive, Starfire flew over to the, unleashing a torrent of starbolts at the criminal, eliciting a roar of pain from Plasmus. Robin smirked at the sight. _'Finally. Doesn't look like physical attacks do much. Looks like energy based attacks might be the way to go here. That leaves Raven and Starfire. Gah! I hate being useless.'_

"Starfire!" Robin yelled at the Tameranian while Plasmas extended his arm and swatted Raven out of the air while she was in the middle of her chant. When the redhead looked his way he yelled "Let him have it!" Thankfully, Robin had already explained the meaning behind the phrase, so there was no doubt in Starfire's mind what the Boy Wonder meant.

Coming to a hover just above Plasmus, she quickly let off several starbolts, ending with a supercharged one, leaving a rather large and gaping hole in the monsters chest.

Starfire gasped loudly while Robin groaned. _'Oh god, please tell me she didn't just kill him…'_

"Did I let him have too much?" Starfire asked nervously, only to watch as Plasmus did not fall as they expected. Instead, in a manner similar to what he did in response to having barrels slammed into his chest, Plasmus just took a deep breath and the hole in his chest refilled itself.

"I'm thinking not enough!" Beastboy answered, turning into a hawk and flying away after to dodge a blast of slime from the now enraged Plasmus.

"Maybe he just needs to chill." Robin said coolly, throwing a freeze disk at the criminal. Plasmus blocked it with his arm, resulting in his arm being frozen.

Plasmus glanced at his arm stupidly, only to let out another cry of pain as a black bolt impacted against it, breaking it and sending more than a few shards of ice into his eyes. Roaring in pain again, he extended his arms and began flailing them wildly.

With one swipe, he sent Beastboy and Robin crashing to the floor. With another he easily swatted Starfire and Raven out of the air. Rubbing his head, he stared at the criminal, eyes widening behind his mask as he saw a stray swipe hit the ceiling, causing it to shake ominously. _'We got to end this fast, otherwise he'll bring an entire second floor's worth of toxic sludge on our heads. No telling what all those chemicals will do to us, but if he absorbs all that he'll be too big to stop!'_

Forcing himself into a standing position, he charged as soon as Plasmus tired himself out from all the swiping. Taking out a grapple gun, he shot it at Plasmus. As expected, Plasmus dodged and the end of the grapple embedded itself deep into the wall. Said villain began to laugh at his supposed failure. Robin ignored it. "Maybe the best way to take you down…" He ran to the side, the rope from the grapple pinning Plasmus's left arm to his side. Continuing, he ran in a circle around the villain, pinning his other arm to him in the process. He did it a few times, pulling the rope as tight as he dared. "…is to tie you up!" He finished, smirking.

Taking the initiative from his example, Beastboy turned into a green ram and charged into the purplish-pinkish slime beast that was struggling to get free, sending him crashing to the floor.

Using her super alien strength, Starfire bent a massive metal support beam down and over the chest of the super villain, then superheated the end and welded it to the floor. Chanting her mantra under her breath, Raven bent two more support beams over the legs and neck, likewise welding them to the floor.

A steady silence settled over the team, as they watched with baited breath as the super villain struggled against the ropes and steel beams holding him down, wondering if he would break free. At last it seemed that they would hold the monster down as he stopped struggling and relax.

Starfire smiled. "We did it!"

Robin nodded, hiding his own smile. It seemed like they weren't doomed to failure after all.

"Didn't think we'd pull it off without—Ugh!" Beastboy started, only to be interrupted by Raven burying her elbow in his ribs. The look she gave him was both scathing and clearly said 'Everybody is in a good mood right now. Don't ruin it.' Beastboy gave a sheepish smile. Raven just rolled his eyes at his almost slip.

Robin pretended to ignore the entire exchange between the two as he felt his communicator vibrate and give a soft beep. Flipping it open, his hidden eyes scanned the screen rapidly, before nodding to himself. "And just in time too. Cinderblock's been spotted downtown. Come, let's go!"

They began running towards the exit, only to begin to hear weird sounds from behind them. Beastboy, having sharper senses than most of the others, identified the source as Plasmus and pointed to him, yelling "Look!"

They watched in silent horror as Plasmus's form lost definition, them easily slid out of the makeshift bindings, and then reformed as five different slime entities. A snakelike creature, a crabish like _thing_ with a large mouth and spindly legs, what resembled an octopus next, another crablike creature only where the other had a mouth this one had a large set of pincers, and the last was Plasmus's head only it too had grown legs. The head let out a battle cry and lead the others in a charge.

"Regroup!" Robin cried, turning heel and running quickly, Starfire, Raven, and Beastboy in the form of a hawk following closely in the air. They ran into a large chemical storage room, Robin being quick to shut the door behind him and braced it behind him, the others following his example.

"Five against four. Not good odds." Beastboy said nervously. Robin glanced at him. Despite the situation, he found himself wondering why Beastboy had not shifted out of his human form in exchange for something stronger, such as a gorilla.

"We don't _need_ odds. What we need is a plan." Robin replied through gritted teeth, mind racing through a thousand thoughts a minute to find a plan for attack. One of the things that Batman had relentlessly drilled into his head was that it didn't matter what your odds of victory were. A good plan could overcome any of the odds against you. Traditionally, he had also said that the best plans were offensive in nature, putting your opponent off balance and keeping them that way but he honestly didn't see any way of doing that at the moment. _'Even together, we were hard pressed to defeat Plasmus. Hopefully, splitting up like that has divided his strength. That would mean that each one of them is only a fifth as strong as the original. It also means, since their all basically the same person, their likely to have flawless teamwork which would make them even more dangerous than the original. We might have a chance though if we split them up. Individually, we just might be able to match a fifth of Plasmus and probably beat it. Then we can all gang up on whichever one's left.'_

It was a testament to the rather extreme level of training Robin's mind was subjected to by Batman that this entire process took place in the span of seconds.

"Ok team, here's the plan—" Whatever Robin was going to say was interrupted by the door they were holding shut being forced open. Crying out in surprise, he only managed to get out one word before he was forced to flee down one of the pathways. "Separate!"

**Unknown Location**

Slade's mask was just that. A mask. It hid, _perfectly _he might add, the features of his face, save but one cold grey eye. It made reading his emotions through his facial features near impossible. Unless one had access to more… unnatural means of reading emotion, his orange and black mask, with the slits on the front for ease of breathing, made one have to rely off of body language or voice tone in order to guess as to what the Master Criminal was feeling.

Both paths of emotional divination which Slade trained himself to keep closed. His voice rarely was anything else than a steady, emotionless, tone, often gaining a overtone of sarcasm when taunting his enemies and frequently his allies as well, much like a certain half-demon Titan. His body automatically assumed a stance of calm indifference, whether standing or sitting, through muscle memory gained through intense training.

Standing there, as still as a statue, watching several different videos, all from live stream camera's shooting from different angles and locations in a chemical waste facility, one could say that Slade's reaction to watching the devastation of a team, broken by the loss of two members, was that of impassivity. Uncaring. Almost bored.

A cold smile stretching across Slade's hidden face said otherwise.

He watched as they fruitlessly battled his pet monster. It was proving to be a pointless endeavor on their part, as only one of them, the one being the alien, was able to inflict massive harm via those green energy blasts called 'starbolts'. He watched, not worried at all, as they bound Plasmus to the floor. That gave him a reason to pause and he suppressed the urge to roll his eyes at their stupidity. Really, Plasmus was, in his monstrous form that he was in now, a creature that had no skeletal system. Reason would dictate that he would therefore be able to contour his body to any sharp necessary to escape any sort of bindings, thus making their attempt to bind him pathetic. In any case, he knew of Plasmus's ability to become multiple different entities, all controlled by a single 'head" entity. He wasn't surprised that Plasmus chose that rout, instead of simply escaping the easy way. After all, they could barely handle one of him, how would the four of them do against five of him? He watched as they bought some time by going into a nearby room, closing the door and holding it closed. He watched as their strength failed against the might of Plasmus. He watched as the teammates separated, each of them running in different directions and getting a single one of the entities chasing after them. He could see it in their eyes that they hoped that separating would allow them to take on a single one of the Plasmus's. It didn't. Each tried their hardest, but separate they were even worse off than they were together.

'_At this rate, they won't even stop Plasmus and he was the distraction for Cinderblock to begin Phase three.'_ Mused Slade silently. Oh sure, this entire thing was just testing Robin and his team against opponents whose capabilities Slade knew better but he wasn't a Master Criminal for nothing. A plan within a plan was his specialty after all, ensuring that any plan he concocted had a benefit to be gained from him, even if he failed completely.

Even if they stopped both Plasmus and Cinderblock, he gained valuable Intel on their capabilities that would ensure that his next plan succeeded. If they stopped Plasmus, but failed to stop Cinderblock, then he would reap the benefits of both the success of Phase three and valuable Intel, with possible casualties on the Titan's already weakened physically and psychologically team via Cinderblock. In his mind, it didn't matter if one of those casualties was Robin. If Robin could be killed by Cinderblock, then he wasn't worthy of being his apprentice anyway. And if they stopped neither Plasmus or Cinderblock, then Plasmus would raid the chemical waste storage facility and grow to an unmanageable size and go on a rampage which would weaken the law enforcement of Jump City further trying to put him down, which would spread his influence and make taking over the city easier, he would get the benefits from Phase three, and intel that at that point may or may not be needed considering on how much of the Titan's were left.

No matter how it turned out, even if he lost both Plasmus and Cinderblock to law enforcement, the benefits of this plan far out weighted the risks. It was a victory for him, no matter what.

Mind now back on the subject of Cinderblock, he wondered just what _was_ that idiot doing? He should've received word by now as to what stage of Phase three Cinderblock was in by now. Had he forgotten to send a status update… _again_? It wasn't even that hard. He had a device specifically made to be extremely hard to damage and insanely easy to use to send a status update, making perfect for the stone brute. Scowling heavily, he switched to the camera of where Cinderblock should be with but a few keystrokes, easily hacking through a few firewalls to get access to the camera's, redirected the camera's to send the recording to his database and no other, and making sure anyone attempting to view from the camera's would get a dumped into viewing a endless loop showing nothing out of the ordinary. He stared at the screen as it shifted and a second feed came up. What he saw made his fist clench in anger. Quickly, he hacked the database storing footage from the camera's in order to find out what happened and how things had ended with Cinderblock gagged and being wrapped in several steel support beams, with then ends being welded together and the back of them hooked together to hoist the stone brute into the air via a crane, where he was wiggling furiously as the police were loading the crane keeping him suspended into the air onto a trailer in order to cart him off to a prison which would be special built to contain him. As he watched the events that lead to him having to schedule a meta human prison break in the near future, one question came to him: Where the hell did the girl come from?

**Line Break, Earlier on the Rooftop**

As predicted, it was indeed a rather long and tiring day. After assuring Nymph that the 'big scary metal man, with a huge cannon for a hand' wasn't going to hurt her and was a key part of their plan, he was then coerced into tell the story of just what he had been up to yesterday and morning today since quitting the team by Cyborg. Omitting Clockwork's visit of course, along with a few other minor details such as the fact that he slept in a bed last night rather than on bench like Cyborg. Which lead to them now, trying to find a way to rejoin the team with their pride intact.

"The way we rejoin is simple." Orpheus was saying as they sat on the roof. "We just got to help stop Plasmus, Cinderblock, and whoever came up with the plan involving them. Prove that we're willing to look past what happened and be a part of the solution to stop him."

Cyborg frowned while Nymph just looked bored. "What makes you think there's a third wheel to this thing?"

"Come on, you saw Cinderblock. I sincerely doubt someone dumb enough to hit themselves with a steel beam in order to get something off their back is smart enough to do much of anything." Orpheus answered. "And after reading Plasmus's file, I know he's not smart enough to either, nor is he in any position to organize anything anyway. Cinderblock headed straight for where Plasmus was held. How would he even get that information, unless someone gave it to him? In any case, both of their files agree that they're both too dumb to work together on anything unless someone's guiding them." Orpheus took a slight pause to breath, having been speaking rather loud, only to be held back by a hand.

"Alright, alright! I get it." Cyborg said, holding his hand up in defeat. "There's someone else pulling the strings here. Probably whoever organized this is going to use them in some plan soon. Neither Cinderblock nor Plasmus are the types to sit around and do nothing for too long."

"Unless they knock them out." Chimed in Nymph, gaining a few looks. In response to the looks, she shrugged. "What? They're definitely going to be doing nothing if their unconscious."

Orpheus shook his head. "I don't think they will. It takes some pretty strong stuff to keep someone like Cinderblock out. Wouldn't be worth the effort. Not to mention that whoever got Cinderblock to break Plasmus out definitely wanted to make some noise and attract some attention doing it."

"What makes you say that?" Nymph questioned.

"Because whoever is smart enough to get Plasmus's location is smart enough to get him out quietly. Hate to say it, but it wouldn't have been that hard to switch out Plasmus with some other prisoner and sneak the real Plasmus out and nobody would even know he was gone." Orpheus answered. "Which means that they wanted attention when they did it. And means that they're going to do something quick while they still have that attention. Question is what?"

"Maybe they wanted our attention." Cyborg pondered, gaining an incredulous look from Orpheus. Cyborg scowled in response. "What? One of the things Batman is famous for is taking it personally when someone manages to get the upper hand on him, obsessing over what he did wrong. It's widely accepted that apprentices take on some of the aspects of their masters, and its common knowledge that Robin _is_ that leader of the Titans. It's also common knowledge that the police yield to us to respond to meta human threats, among other things. We did just start out, so they know we wouldn't have good teamwork yet. Cinderblock is a rather tough, if dumb, opponent for anyone. They were counting on us to respond, and fail. They knew that would cause Robin to get tunnel vision, ignoring the possibility of it being a distraction if Cinderblock showed up again in lieu of getting a rematch. Same situation with Plasmus, except the reason would be to make for his earlier mistake in not stopping Cinderblock in breaking him out. Thus, whichever shows back up, likely it'll be just as a distraction for the other to go forward with the _real_ plan, likely with help from whoever orchestrated this entire thing."

Orpheus nodded patiently. "There is that. Or we could be ridiculously over thinking this entire thing and so simple its hanging right over our nose and we just don't see it."

Cyborg blanched at the thought, before shaking his head. "It doesn't matter. I'd rather overestimate rather than underestimate. Even without us, I'm pretty sure that the rest of the team could handle Plasmus and I doubt that they'll fall to Cinderblock again now that they have experience fighting him."

"So what are we going to do?"

"How about after one of them surfaces, we play it safe and wait a little bit in case the other one shows up and if he doesn't then we can just deal help the others with the first one and just go from there. Sound good?"

Orpheus smiled. "Sounds good with me. Nymph, what do you think?"

Nymph just shrugged. "Seems like your putting way too much stock in your third man but, hey, whatever you want to do. As long as your plan quickens the search for Dani in this city so I can move on I don't care."

Orpheus frowned a bit at the rather bland response. "Why are you so focused on finding her anyways? Surely she can take care of herself."

"It's not a matter of whether or not she can take care of herself."

"Then what is it a matter of?" Orpheus pressed.

Nymph shot him a dark glare that looked strangely right at home on the fairy girl's face. "It's a personal matter." She said voice as warm as ice and as friendly and forgiving as the business end of a loaded shotgun.

The menace in her voice actually caused him to back up a few steps and raise his hands, palms out in gesture of peace, a pose that Cyborg mimicked. "Wow, ok I understand. Personal matter, I get it. Sheath the claws please. We're all friends here." He said carefully. _'Note to self: Do not attempt to divine Nymph's reasons for wanting to find Dani by asking her. May end in violence.'_

"Thank you for understanding." She replied, a frosty note of warning still present in her voice. She glared at him for a moment longer before looking away.

'_Man that was weird.'_ Cyborg thought. _'Wonder what in the world could evoke that sort of response though?'_

The rather awkward silence was interrupted a beeping sound from Cyborg's arm and, a split second later, Orpheus communicator went off as well.

Cyborg sighed, lifting it up and examining the screen it projected. Really he could just get this information flowed directly from his mind, but he'd rather not. It made him feel more… human to get the information this way. "Plasmus is attacking VladCo. Chemical Waste Facilities." _'Is it just me, or did Orpheus just flinch when I said the name?'_

"So then if you're right then that means that Cinderblock should surface somewhere, right?"

Cyborg nodded. "In any even the waste facility is close by. As long as Cinderblock doesn't surface on the other side of the city, it shouldn't take too long to help in any event."

Then came the waiting. A minute into waiting, Nymph apologized haphazardly for biting his head off. He accepted her apology half-heartedly. She smiled and seemed to regain a bit of her sunny disposition but was definitely a lot quieter. They talked a little and both Cyborg and Orpheus agreed that about fifteen minutes were long enough to wait for Cinderblock to surface without being too long. Thankfully, they needn't wait that long. Ten minutes into it, Cinderblock was spotted downtown at a construction site.

Strangely enough, the site was about as far away from them as the waste facility was. And there he was, holding several different sorts of tools under his right arm.

A blue energy beam nailed him square in the back, sending him stumbling forward and made him drop some his construction equipment. He turned, seeing Cyborg standing there with one of his arms outstretched, hand still in the form of a cannon and smoking from just being fired. "Don't know what you're trying to build, guess I'll just have to knock it out of you instead."

Cinderblock let out a growl, dropping the rest of his tools and advanced on the trio, Cyborg charging to meet him, only to be sent flying back rather painfully via Cinderblock's fist impacting against his chest.

"_Costringere_!" He heard Nymph shout out beside him as a pinkish-blue bolt of energy came out of her raised and glowing wand, impacting against Cinderblock's chest with a crack. It sent the rocky villain stumbling back.

Drawing energy from his ice core, a pair of ice clubs, complete with handles and hand guards, came into existence slowly in his hands. He winced as he spun them experimentally. Clubs weren't as long as Bo staves but they were much thicker, especially with the hand guards. He wasn't as good with clubs as he was with a staff or a host of other weapons that he could create with ice but other than staves he could generate the most force with a club.

Running forward, he nailed Cinderblock on his side with one of the clubs as hard as he could, sending him reeling. Capitalizing on the villain's imbalance, he hit him two more times in the chest, causing him to stumble back from the force. Cinderblock recovered faster than he expected though, and found himself getting driven back as he dodged furiously. One hit from Cinderblock with that much force behind it would be enough to make it harder to keep fighting if not put him out entirely.

His salvation came in the form of Cyborg, as the half machine teen jumped in front of him and caught Cinderblock's next swing. Wrestling it to his side, metal buckling from the sheer force and a scraping sound emanated from stone and steel scrapped together as Cyborg caught Cinderblock's other arm, holding them both in place. They strained against one another for a few seconds before he grabbed Cyborg's wrists and lifted him up, earning a yell as he tossed the cybernetic Titan over his head with a malevolent laugh.

Cinderblock charged and Orpheus ran to meet him. Cinderblock swung at him and Orpheus jumped over it and nailed him in the back of the head with a club. Cinderblock turned to Orpheus, getting tunnel vision on the grey-cloaked hero and paid for it when he heard another shout of "_Costringere_!" and felt another hit to his back, stronger than before that knocked him to the ground near squashing Orpheus in the process. Thankfully Cyborg grabbed the end of his cloak and yanked him back just in time.

"This isn't working." Mumbled Orpheus as he saw Cinderblock slowly getting to his feet. "He's too strong and too resistant to damage for just brute force to take him down."

"Tell me about it." Grumbled Nymph.

Cyborg lifted his arm, pushing a few buttons, and then frowned. "I think we better wrap things up here fast."

"Why's that?" Nymph questioned as Orpheus reabsorbed his ice clubs back into his body.

"Plasmus is giving the others more trouble than I thought he would." Cyborg answered. "I think they might actually need our help for him."

"Any ideas?" Orpheus asked, as he iced Cinderblock's feet to the trip up the giant rock man when he tried to charge him.

Cyborg shrugged. "Fight smarter, not harder?"

Nymph frowned. "I think I know a spell to restrain him, but it's going to take a while to get it ready. Keep him busy?"

Cyborg nodded as Orpheus covered the fallen Cinderblock with a thick sheet of ice in order to buy time. It began breaking off of him almost immediately as Cinderblock got to his feet.

Cyborg began toward the villain again, when Cinderblock let out another dark laugh. Raising his foot, he stomped it down on the ground as hard as he could, cracking it and causing a mini earthquake that brought the two Titan's to their knees. When it ended, Cinderblock ripped a large piece of the ground up, throwing it at them.

It was stopped by a green shield and Cyborg jumped over it and high into the air. He held his hand up over his head, prepared to punch Cinderblock as he landed. It didn't go as planned as Cinderblock was ready for him. Cinderblock punched him _hard_ as soon as he was in range, sending him flying to the side. He shook out the cobwebs, glancing at the nearby Nymph who had her eyes closed, deep in concentration. "How much longer?"

"A few more minutes." Nymph replied after a few minutes.

"Hurry!" Shouted out Orpheus as he put up a shield at the last moment to stop from being crushed by Cinderblock's hand. Sweat beaded on his brow as he strained to hold up the shield as Cinderblock began pounded into it. Cracks began forming at the points of impact. Cinderblock paused when they did, giving Orpheus a chance to push even more energy into the shield, mending it. It was short lived as Cinderblock resumed with a vigor, pounding into the shield relentlessly. Cracks began forming again, only this time Cinderblock didn't stop. Linking his hands together, he smashed his hands together in one final blow, shattering the shield into a million different pieces, each of which faded soon after.

Thankfully, Orpheus phased into the ground and avoided getting turned into a pancake. Cinderblock looked around in confusion until a blue beam hit him in the back. He turned just in time to get nailed in the face with another one. Growling, he crossed his hands in front of his face to stop another. Slowly, he began moving forward against the stream from Cyborg's sonic cannon. When he was close enough, he swung at Cyborg. Thankfully, Cyborg realized the danger and dodged quickly to the side, Cinderblock following in pursuit.

Orpheus resurfaced next to Nymph. "How about now?"

Nymph eyebrows were furrowed in concentration. "Hang in there just a little longer."

"Oh please, TAKE YOUR TIME!" Cyborg yelled to them sarcastically, running for his life with Cinderblock close behind him. He tripped and landed on his stomach. Turing onto his back, he brought his hand up to grab the approaching death that was Cinderblock's hand that threatened to crush his head like a grape.

Letting out a battle cry, Orpheus got a running start and jumped onto Cinderblock's back, hooking his hands around Cinderblock's neck in way that was not unlike that done by a certain bird earlier. Gathering energy from his ice core, he began letting it out of his hands in a steady stream which caused his hands to glow and ice began spreading from the point of contact. Cinderblock roared and began swinging madly. Cyborg used the chance to kick off Cinderblock's legs, getting some distance between him and the currently enraged rock monster with a meta-human on his back.

Cinderblock grabbed the back of Orpheus's cloak and plucked him off his back. He held him at arm level, growling. Orpheus grinned. "Lookie here dumbass!" He held up his hand, now glowing green. Curious, Cinderblock brought the Titan closer to his face than was wise. "Boom!" He cackled madly as he shot Cinderblock in the face at point blank range with a ghost ray.

The villain screamed in pain, dropping Orpheus and barely feeling it when said Titan kicked off his chest like a spring board. He dropped to his knees, holding his head in his hands, moaning in pain.

"Guess we might not need that spell after all." Cyborg commented dryly. "So much for 'too resistant to damage for brute force.'"

They started walking back to Nymph to tell her. On a whim, Orpheus turned back to Cinderblock when he stopped moaning. "Don't count your chickens before they hatch." Orpheus warned as a royally pissed off Cinderblock slowly got to his feet.

Seeing the expression on his face, Cyborg only had time to get off two words before Cinderblock let out an angry roar and charged them. "Oh Shit."

Thankfully, Nymph chose that moment to make her presence known. "_A questi fasci di serpenti e trattenere quello che rende la terra tremare. Il loro troppo in gioco, quindi non essere troppo tardi!_" Everybody, including Cinderblock, watched as a ball of light shot from Nymph's wand. It went to the center of the construction site and rose up a few inches, hovering there for a few seconds, before exploding in a rather brilliant fashion, releasing wave after wave of white energy. For a second, Orpheus was tempted to put up a shield to protect himself. Then he saw it pass harmlessly through Cyborg and Cinderblock and resolved to trust that Nymph would've warned him if it was dangerous.

It tingled a bit as it passed through him and made the hair on his neck stand on end but other than that he noticed no effects. Just to be sure, he patted himself down and made sure nothing was missing or changed.

Glancing around, he noticed that nothing seemed to have changed. "Is that it?" Cyborg asked.

Nymph shot him an annoyed look. "Wait for it."

"Seriously? We stalled Cinderblock just to see a fancy light show?" Orpheus said, voiced colored with disbelief.

"_Wait_ for it!" As if triggered by her words, there was a hissing sound. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that the nearby steel beams seemed to be melting. Before his very eyes, they lost all definition of shape and then gained scales. One end lengthened into a tail and the other end flattened into a head. They gained eyes and then a mouth. Transformation finished, the metal snakes hissed threateningly at Cinderblock and advanced on the stone man.

Cinderblock looked at them, confused. Experimentally, he kicked at one, sending it flying away. Suddenly getting much more hostile, the other snakes swarmed. The fight between them was brutal and over in seconds as the various metal snakes wrapped around his body, tightening and restraining. Within seconds, Cinderblock could do nothing wriggle and yell in anger on the ground. With a flick of Nymph's wrist, he couldn't even do that as she conjured a rope that wrapped around his head, gagging him. The snakes swallowed their own tails and slowly turned back into beams with ends appearing to have been welded together.

Nymph smirked. "Not exactly a 'fancy light show' was it?"

As Orpheus rubbed the back of his head nervously, Cyborg dragged over a rather thick chain from a nearby crane and hooked it on the back of Cinderblock's restraints. Walking back over to the crane, he pressed a button on the crane, causing it to reel in the chain and lift Cinderblock in the air.

"So… we done here or what?" Nymph asked.

"Cyborg, put in a call to the police to pick this guy up." Orpheus ordered, getting a nod from the cybernetic Titan.

Cyborg pushed a few buttons on his arm, muttering "I thought they ought to be here by now…"

Orpheus heard him, but decided not to comment. _'Really, even Amity had a better police response time than here.'_

"Have the others beaten Plasmus yet?" When he received a shake of the head, he nodded, mind made up. "Then let's go give them a hand."

**At Chemical Waste Facility, Earlier**

As soon as Robin said "Separate" they each ran down one of the columns created by the chemical containers. And each got their own little Plasmus to get chased by. It was fortunate that the last "head" Plasmus choose to simply watch.

'_That doesn't mean it's any easier.'_ Reflected Beastboy angrily as he ran in the form of a cheetah. Suddenly, he was lifted up in the air by something slimy.

Not bothering to look down as he knew what it was, he simply turned into a gorilla and used his superior size and strength to rip out of the tongue easily. He was not, however, prepared for the beast to respond by tackling him.

Letting out a roar, he threw the beast off of him, quickly turning into a cheetah to pursue him and press the advantage.

With Starfire, the snake had decided to pursue her. She paused and, hovering in mid-air, let off a barrage of starbolts as fast as she could, hoping to hit the snake. It was small so it would only take one to rip it apart. But it was all for naught It was too quick, too agile to be hit by her starbolts.

Dodging to the left, she recognized the danger too late as the slimy snake lunged at her wrapping her in its slimy body completely. The world went dark. Fighting off new feelings of claustrophobia, she gathered energy at her hands and let it go, creating a bright green light. The energy tore the snake apart into several different pieces. She relaxed, thinking that her opponent was done. Unfortunately, the snake reformed almost instantly and lunged at her from behind.

Raven wasn't doing much better. The octopus thing that was after her was right on her tail. She shot a few bursts of her magic at it. They slowed it down a little, but did no lasting damage. _'That won't work.'_ She thought with a frown. Concentrating, she unscrewed all the screws out of the nearby machines, causing them to fall apart. Unluckily for the octopus thing, they fell on it. She smirked, seeing it get flattened like a pancake. _'Now, where are the others?'_

Focusing on locating Starfire via her broadcasted feelings of frustration as she was, she didn't notice the octopus reforming until it was too late to be stopped.

This was the scene that Orpheus, Cyborg, and Nymph stumbled upon.

Eyes widening, Cyborg did a quick head count and realized that they were missing somebody. "Where's Robin!?"

Orpheus closed his eyes, quickly locking onto Robin's aura. He pointed to the far door, yelling "Get him! Me and Nymph got the others!" Cyborg nodded, taking a running start and jumping over the others, taking the time to free Starfire from the snake via sonic cannon.

Pointing in Beastboy's direction, he told Nymph "Get him; I'll get the other one!"

She nodded. Briefly, it registered in his mind that, instead of a wand, she was holding a rather beautiful Chinese long sword.

Filing that thought away for later introspection, he quickly ran over to where the octopus was holding Raven.

**With Raven**

Raven was in a bit of a bind. That damnable octopus thing had managed to sneak up on her and now had her tightly within its grasp. It had a tentacle covering her mouth, leaving her unable to say her mantra. Unable to say her mantra, it meant that using her magic was hard, not to mention incredibly dangerous to use her magic in its unfocused form. And with another tentacle covering her eyes, she couldn't see what to focus it on anyway. With nothing to focus it on, she was left with the option of just pushing her raw, unconcentrated, magic directly out of her body and hoping for the best. An option that was dangerous to say the least, and not just to anything nearby, but to her as well.

Just as she was about to try and do so, she heard what she thought was Orpheus's voice. She couldn't be sure, given that one of the tentacles covered one of her ears and another half covered the other.

As she was trying to concentrate on hearing, she felt a familiar tingling sensation. Hopeful that it meant what she thought it mean, she tried to move and get free. No luck. _'Looks like Orpheus can't phase through Plasmus.'_ Ah well. Would've been too easy if he could.

As she was thinking this, the octopus holding suddenly got extremely cold. Within minutes, it froze completely. Struggling to get free with renewed vigor, but it was for naught. She was strong, but even she couldn't crack this ice. The ice shattered as quickly as she thought that. Vision and the ability to speak were restored when it did, but unfortunately, the first thing that she saw was the floor as she hit it hard and had the air knocked out of her. Raven was sure she didn't want to even think about what the taste in her mouth was

A gloved hand entered her field of vision and she took it, leaning on the owner heavily. Gasping for breath, she looked up to see a smirking Orpheus. Still smirking, he said "Wow, Raven, I'm touched. Miss me that much?"

With some degree of restrained horror, she realized that she had her arms wrapped onto his torso tightly and his arm was across her back with his hand was hooked under her arm to support her. Somewhere, deep in the facility, a row of light bulbs were engulfed in back energy and destroyed.

Forcing herself to take a deep breath, she untangled herself from him as quickly as she could, managed to take two shaky steps back and took a moment to regain both her bearings and her breath.

Having regained both, she fixed him with a glare. Composure regained, she said, in the best accusatory voice that she could "You're late." She crossed her arms and did her best to look pissed off

He chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry. I got lost on the road of life." Raven blinked.

'_Out of all the excuses… Who in their right mind would think that a genuine excuse?'_ She thought irritably.

At the very same time when she thought that, in an alternate dimension, a man with gravity defying white hair and a face mask sneezed violently into a little orange book he had been reading.

"…What?" He chuckled again at her slightly confused face, before sounds of fighting reminded him that he had something that he had to be doing. "Fight now, talk later!"

**With Nymph**

As soon as Orpheus raced off, Nymph brandished her sword, taking the time examine it for a second. The blade was a clear diamond-titanium mix with sapphire shaped butterflies inside with a hilt that was a platinum-titanium mix with a pink sapphire butterfly in the center.

Ignoring that, she focused, covering the sword in fire. With a wide swing of her sword a wave of fire sprang out of it and flew through the air, cutting the creature that had Beastboy struggling to hold its mouth open in human form to prevent his head from being bit off in half.

The fire made a sizzling sound when it struck and steam emanating from end of the little Plasmus.

"Dude!" Nymph turned to see the green teen she had just freed from the little Plasmus creature. "When'd you get here?"

"Just a couple of seconds ago."

"Where'd you come from?" He continued.

She smirked at him. "That's a secret." She eyed the creature she freed him from reforming behind him. "Look, we can talk later. Right now we got to fight." He nodded, changing into a rhino. Padding its foot on the ground, it charged at nearest creature.

She cloaked her sword back in fire and shot a fireball at the serpent that was creeping up on her from behind. It exploded, sending pieces of the serpent everywhere. Almost immediately when they landed they started going back together. Nymph frowned. _'There's no point in beating up these monsters if they just keep reforming. Where's the head?'_

**With Robin**

Sweat was running down his limbs in small rivers as he ran. He knew that any attack against the creature behind him would be ultimately ineffective, unless it wiped it out completely and left it nothing to regenerate from. Right now, he didn't have the capabilities for such an attack. So he ran.

He cursed his own shortsightedness. _'If Batman was here, he'd kick my ass for being this ill prepared.'_ He snorted. Here he was stalling for the opportunity for a plan to present itself (He refused to believe he was running for his life… yet) and he was worried about what his mentor thought of him. He heard sounds of fighting behind him and hoped his team had down what he said and separated. One on one was the best chance they had.

A set of double doors were coming up. He busted through it, falling onto a conveyor belt. He looked around, eyes straining against the dark room. There were lights on the conveyor belt, but nowhere else, leaving the rest of the room cloaked in darkness. The only thing that he could tell was far up, too far to risk jumping off and not knowing how far the ground was. He cast his gaze forward where the conveyor belt was taking him. He could just barely see a large vat of steaming, sizzling, chemicals at the far end. He grinned. _'That might work. This stuff is different from the chemicals he was drinking earlier. If I could get him into that it just might destroy him. Or he'll get a hell of a lot bigger. Ah well, best plan I've got right now.'_ A thud behind him signaled that Plasmus had followed him. He smirked.

Pulling out his Bo staff, he took a stance and waited. Time was on his side. He could vault over Plasmus in a second and as long as he kept Plasmus's attention on him, he'd never see it coming. Taking a chance, he went on the offensive and swung his staff, hitting the creature _hard_ in his pincers. It was hard enough to actually displace the gooey substance that made the creature up but it fixed itself before his very eyes, reaffirming his theory that it could fix itself from most all damage.

The creature decided to take the offense, lunging forward to catch him with its humongous pincers. Muscles straining from the effort, he managed to only just hold him back via catching the pincers on his Bo staff. While he could just barely hold him back, his Bo staff couldn't. It snapped in half, forcing him to jump back hurriedly. Regaining his balance, he could only just dodge the tongue from the creature as it attempted ensnare him while he contemplated his options as he went on autopilot to dodge the other strikes. _'Hand to hand should be a last resort. Explosives are out too, this thing can barely hand the two of us moving around as is. Wait, don't I have a spare Bo staff?'_

Taking out his spar Bo staff, he was about to take another swing at him but was forced to abandon his staff when Plasmus got a hold of it with his pincers and he was forced to abandon it, or share the fate of getting thrown into the back abyss along with his staff.

Sighing in frustration, he took a fighting stance. He dodged another lunge from Plasmus and retaliated with a drop kick, being careful to pull out quickly enough to not get stuck. Unfortunately, he made a mistake and pulled out too quick, setting him off balance, something that Plasmus capitalized on.

Lunging, he knocked Robin to the ground and got on top of him. Plasmus bent down and attempted to get his head between his pincers, where it would be crushed mercilessly. Grabbing the two of them, he put all his strength into holding them open for as long as he could, while at the same time trying to work out how he might get free, as Plasmus had his legs pinned as well.

He was drawing blanks as to how to get free, until he felt the floor under him beginning to disappear. He gave an evil grin to the creature. Pushing with his legs, he flipped Plasmus over him and into the awaiting chemical vat. Or at least that was the plan. He did manage to flip Plasmus into the chemical waste. What went wrong was when he almost got dumped into the chemical waste vat as well. He managed to grab the end of the conveyor belt. The bad thing was that Plasmus managed to grab the end of boot.

He strained his arm, trying desperately to hold on. The metal creaked and moaned in outrage at having to sustain the combined weight of both Robin and the creature. Robin's eyes widened at the sight of the metal piece that he had grabbed onto slowly bending, coming away from conveyor belt. All of the sudden it broke off completely, plunging both Robin and the little Plasmus creature to their doom.

By sheer instinct alone, the hand that wasn't still gripping the torn off piece of metal reached down to his utility belt in order to get his grapple gun in a futile attempt to use it to latch onto the ceiling or a wall or even the bottom on the conveyor belt and swing or reel himself so that he wouldn't meet an untimely and most likely extremely painful and slow demise at the hands of the chemical waste. But the same instinct that made him draw the grapple gun told him that there was nothing he could do with it or anything else he had in his belt that would save him.

'_Not how I thought I'd go.'_ He thought bitterly. Always imagined that he'd live long enough to prove to Bruce that he could make it on his own. Prove that he could take and handle the name "Batman, The Dark Knight". Always imagined that he'd end up sacrificing himself to save the world, or something grand like that. Not dying painfully alone. Not a death that meant next to nothing.

The fact that he was taking a little piece of Plasmus with him was cold comfort. He closed his eyes, resigning himself to his fate.

Falling, falling…..

But it wasn't to be. Untold amounts of relief flushed through his body as a cold metal hand wrapped around his forearm. Looking up, he saw the metal hand glowing with blue circuitry to belong to none other than Cyborg. His relief grew when, like a slack rope suddenly pulled taunt, Plasmus was jerked from his already. A grin worked itself onto his face before he could help himself as Cyborg easily pulled him up.

Cyborg stood there, face an impassive mask as he watched Robin slow his racing heart down.

'_Never again.'_ Robin thought vehemently. _'I just resigned myself to die.'_ He clenched and unclenched his hands, systematically every muscle in his body, then releasing them one by one as a means to relax. Trying to come to terms with his acceptance of death. _'He always taught me to accept that one day my death might be unavoidable. But not like this. Never resigned acceptance. He told me to go down fighting anyway I could. Never again will I accept myself to go quietly into the night.'_

"You ok?" Cyborg's voice broke him out of trance. He suddenly found it very hard to speak, so he nodded.

"Are the others alright?" Robin asked, finding his voice to speak and fearing the worst.

"When I passed them, they were a little tied up, but Orpheus and Nymph should have taken care of it by now."

Robin raised an eyebrow. "Nymph?" He asked, mind immediately going to picture scantily clad woodland creatures.

"That's a funny story. I'll explain later, but right now we need some kind of strategy to take Plasmus down for good." Cyborg eyed how Plasmus fell apart and slowly dissolved.

"He just regenerates from any damage. The key is to take out the head and the others will fall apart. Got to do it in one fell swoop though, or he'll just heal…"

A steady silence fell between the two, well aware that they couldn't take too long before rejoining the fight. Then Cyborg smiled, the first emotion to have been displayed by the cybernetic Titan during the entire encounter. "I still got the sonic if you still got the boom." Cyborg smirked confidently, holding up his hand, which transformed into said sonic cannon.

Robin stared at the half machine teen. Slowly, a wide smirk spread across his own face.

**With the others**

Orpheus leaned against, breathing heavily. Using his ice powers wasn't as taxing as it used to be, but it was still the second most taxing power that he could use in his human form, the most taxing being telekinesis.

Still, it seemed to be the one power that he had that had the best effect on all the little Plasmus's, as when he froze part of their bodies, it took them longer to recover, even when Nymph scattered them with a fireball.

However, nobody could go on forever and with their regenerative powers it seemed that this war of attrition was going to end in Plasmus's favor.

Beastboy was nearing his end as well. It was hard to see but it was still there. He was slowing down, both physically and in changing from animal to animal. Every now and again, he'd pull off a particularly nasty attack, and then take the time to retreat. He stay there, catching his breath in human form for a while, then would leap back into the fray.

Raven was probably one of ones that were better off, along with Starfire. By unspoken decree, both of them had decided to remain as high up as the ceiling would allow and rain down attacks in the form of starbolts and bolts of black energy, with the occasional item thrown via Raven. They showed no obvious signs of exhaustion, but then, it was hard to tell with those two.

Out of everybody, Nymph seemed to be the one with the most energy, strangely enough. Alternating between using her sword to slice them up as well as using fire manipulation with the occasional wind thrown in with a spell here or there. It was a rather impressive display. However, even that was not enough against them and the fairy girl was slowly tiring.

He sighed, dragging himself off the wall and assuming a tired stance, Beastboy beside him in the form of a tiger. He had it in him to put out a few more attacks, but after that he'd have to save his energy to make a hasty retreat. He glanced at Beastboy, who seemed to be thinking something similar.

"Teen Titan's go!" He heard the voices of Robin and Cyborg call out simultaneously. He turned seeing Robin and Cyborg charging from a nearby hallway together toward where all of Plasmus had been pushed together. From where they were, it was a straight shot directly toward the monster that resembled Plasmus's head.

He saw their graceful sort of dance that signified the beginning of them attempting the sonic boom and nearly groaned. _'Of all the boneheaded moves… First time they tried that move it ended in disaster and they want to try it AGAIN?!'_ He shook his head. _'Well, looks like they're going all or nothing with this.'_

But, unlike before, it didn't go bad. Robin had studied the video showcasing just how he had messed up. He knew just what he had done last time to cause him to mess up, so he made sure not to do that again.

It went off without a hitch. Robin threw the explosive disk and Cyborg nailed it with his sonic cannon just as it was in front of Plasmus's head. When the smoke cleared, all that was left was the sleeping brown haired human form of Plasmus.

"Glad that's over." Mumbled Beastboy.

"It's not over yet. We still got to stop Cinder-"

"No we don't."

"Cyborg here thought you might still be mad, so we made sure to bring a present. Show him."

Cyborg brought up a screen on his arm, showing Cinderblock being put into a containment cell.

Robin grinned. "Well alright then. Contact the police and let them know to pick up Plasmus."

"Already done."

Robin looked around and, seemingly noticing Nymph for the first time, asked "Who's this?"

Nymph brightened. "I'm Nymph."

Robin nodded slowly, no doubt already planning out how to find everything that there was to be found out about Nymph later. "Ok. Look, not to sound ungrateful for your help, but why are you here?"

"If you don't mind Robin I think it's better if we have this discussion back at the tower." Orpheus interjected before Nymph could answer.

"Alright." Robin said slowly. He turned to Raven. "Raven, if you don't mind?"

She nodded, and one Raven-styled teleportation later they were all standing in the Ops room of the tower.

"Ok, so what's this all about?"

**One long explanation later that I don't feel like typing.**

"Ok, I get it. She helped you with this 'Vorpal' and so you have to help her see if this "Dani Phantom is in our town and want to use the tower alert system to check."

Orpheus nodded. "Yup. That's it in a nutshell."

"Cyborg? Will that work?"

Cyborg nodded thoughtfully. "I never designed it for that purpose, but yeah, it should."

Robin nodded. "Ok, but how are you going to get her picture?

Orpheus smirked. "Simple." Walking up to the main computer, he began typing and pulled up several Danny Phantom fan sites. From there, he clicked a link called "Phantom's sister?" That pulled up a website devoted to finding out if Phantom had a sister, complete with a picture of Dani in her ghost form, flying over what looked to be Egypt, judging from the pyramids and sand in the background. Orpheus looked back to Nymph. "This her?" He knew it was, but he couldn't let anyone else know that, could he?

Nymph nodded. "Yeah, it is. You should include her other form too."

Orpheus quirked an eyebrow, but said nothing. Obviously, his clone was a lot more forthcoming with information that he was; a fact that depressed him slightly. "Other form?"

Nymph nodded. "Yeah. Basically just tan her skin a little bit, turn her eyes blue, and her hair raven black-same shade of your hair now that I think about." She looked at him thoughtfully.

He fought the urge to panic, and instead said "Really? Then it's just a few shades away from being like Robin's hair, as well as thousands of other people." He kept his tone as light as possible, hoping it came out not sounding as defensive as it did in his mind.

Apparently it didn't. Cyborg took over from there, making the necessary changes, and then nodded. "Ok, moment of truth then. Cross your fingers."

Orpheus found himself holding his breath as Cyborg put the pictures into the system. He held his breath as the system search for someone with her image. When it came up with nothing, Orpheus wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing. _'What do I do if I find her anyway? Do I tell her who I am… or do I lie?'_

"Looks like she's not in Jump." Orpheus finally said.

"Looks like I got to keep looking." Nymph said, sounding heart wrenchingly depressed.

"What did I say about being positive?" Orpheus, grinning. "Judging from the pyramids and sand in the background from that picture, she was in Egypt at some point. Why don't you try and look there?"

"Alright." She turned to leave, only to get stopped by Robin holding out a Titan communicator. "What's with this?" She asked, holding it in her hand.

Robin smiled. "Consider yourself an honorary Teen Titan. You ever need help; we're just a call away. And if Dani shows up in Jump, you're just a call away."

Nymph brightened instantly. "Thanks!" She pulled the unwilling Boy Wonder into a hug, which Robin half heartedly returned.

"Alrighty then, bye!" She gave an exaggerated wave, before waving her wand and disappearing in a swirl of golden sparkles.

**Unknown Location**

Slade seethed quietly. He had planned for this possible eventuality, but he had not actually thought it would happen. It was more along the line of habit of being through and planning for every possibility than actually thinking that it would happen. The girl was biggest surprise. In his brief bout of overconfidence, he had not kept an eye on what the two now former deserters to see what they were doing. That had lead to them ambushing an unprepared Cinderblock. If he had tracked them as he _should_ have, then they wouldn't have been able to take down Cinderblock as easy. At the very least he would've warned Cinderblock, possibly sent a few robots with him to give him a fighting chance.

And then there was that girl. Just _where_ did she come from? Was she a Titan? If so, why was he only now learning of her existence? It didn't add up. At all. He needed more research.

**End Chapter**

**I feel like I overpowered Cinderblock and Plasmus a little bit too much. To me, the combat scenes feel a little lackluster too. But other than that, I think it's a fairly decent chapter, or at least in comparison to the last one.**

**A little over 11,000 words. Huh. Longest chapter to date. Hurray.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Review Rely Time!**

Warlord:** Thanks**

The Virus:** IMSB saw a man off in the distance. "Kurama!" A giant, red, nine tailed fox appeared. Kurama said "Yes?" "I don't know who that is off in the distance, but they don't look friendly and you look like you could use a snack." "Right you are Bored-sama." Kurama rushed at the figure and in one quick move swallowed him whole.**

unknown:** Not anytime soon I don't think.**

Guest:** Thanks, means a lot.**

Weirdo:** He probably did look into Danny(Orpheus) but found nothing of note. I just didn't see a reason (Or a place) to put that in. He most definitely will look into Danny Phantom and Dani.**

Rockstar:** Thanks. I figured it was time have a Danny /Raven moment. That Naruto line is famous. I'm going to make it a point to make sure that it appears somewhere in every story that I write.**

coldblue: **No, she's not a villain for Dani, although that is a very creative suggestion. She's too fun to write to be a villain. Vlad might do something like that…. Eventually. Probably not; I think he is powerful enough as it is. Might give him the Ghostly Wail though, just to make things interesting. And yup, small scenes of Danny/Raven fluff sprinkled in here or there, just to lighten the mood now and again. As for that last question…. Well I've stopped really saying to myself whether it's still a Raven/Danny/ (?) or not. In my head I've just resolved to write and see how it turns out. So I guess the truthful, simple answer is "I have no fricken idea." Thanks for asking though. Really, I've been annoyed that nobodies been asking the interesting questions because it's those questions that are really fun to give vague-ish answers to. XD**

Sparxthehdgehog:** I agree. Helps that Danny can turn intangible and invisible too.**

Guest:** Not that I disagree, but when did Danny turn into a prince?**

Hullo:** Thanks for the compliment, but I can't really take credit. princessbinas gave me the character description and I just sort of ran with it.**

Guest:** She does? On who? As for the changes to the "Switched" episode (Or at least, I think that's the name of the episode.) I'd swap Raven and Orpheus and just cut Starfire out completely if it wasn't an important episode for Raven and Starfire's relationship. This is the episode where they start to get along a whole lot better. The episode where they start meditating together. Get more of that sister-ish relationship. Orpheus is still going to end up getting swapped along with Raven and Starfire. Just not the way you are suggesting. And thanks for the lightening spell. As you can see, Kurama has it handled right now, but I'll save the spell for a rainy day.**

Guest:** And at some point, she will ok? Just not now.**

**I don't really feel like including any sort of accent in this story right now. Maybe that'll change later. You'll probably understand why I'm telling you all this later. Or not. I really don't know. Nor do I really care all that much.**

**Chapter 14**

Orpheus groaned, trying to stretch as he slowly opened his eyes. _'Man, haven't slept that deeply in a long time. Wait. Why can't I mo-.'_ He jerked his eyes open, seeing himself in what appeared to be a regular fancy looking wooden chair. Only his hands were encased in green shields at the ends of the arms and his legs were bound to the chair's legs._ 'Aw, hell man, not again. A week from the whole 'Cinderblock and Plasmas' debacle and already we have to deal with another villain. Great.'_

Orpheus looked around, glad people couldn't tell whether his eyes were open or not thanks to his goggles, to see he was in some sort of British looking school with large checkerboard tile floor. It had a lot of photos of a rather stupid looking guy with wavy red hair and dull blue eyes wearing a pair of square blue tinted glasses. He had a white neck tie and a black shirt on, wearing what appeared to be a jacket styled after the British flag. At least, that's what it looked like from the top half that could be seen from the portrait.

"Am I the only one who _doesn't_ know where we're at?"

Looking to where he heard Beastboy's voice, he found that the green teen was on his right, being restrained by what looked to be large rubber bands. To his left, he saw Raven, with some sort of floating white energy ring around her torso, with her hands encased in the arms of the chair to restrain her and her legs restrained the same way his were. Further to the left, he saw Cyborg, retrained the same way as Beastboy except with metal instead of rubber. Then there was Starfire, similarly restrained with red energy rings restraining her wrists to the arms of her chair. Last was Robin, hands encased in arms of his chair and legs bound.

"Your right where you need to be my duckies!" Declared a male voice with a _heavy_ British accent. He turned to see the same stupid looking man approaching them. Other than the neck tie, black shirt, and British flag themed, he had on white pants, matching shoes, and was carrying a black cane topped with a ruby. "You're in school!"

"School?" Orpheus looked around. "If we're in school, where are the other students?"

"You're the only students!" The crazed Britain responded."The only students at Mad Mod's institute for bratty teenage do-gooders. And it's high time someone taught you sprogs a lesson!"

"What the hell is a sprog?" Beastboy asked, getting a shake of the head and a shrug from Raven and Orpheus respectively.

"Titan's move!" Robin declared, straining against his restraints to no avail. Orpheus first turned intangible, then when that failed to free him he tried to blast his way out. Beastboy began rapidly shifting between animal forms, attempting to free himself, but the rubber bands held him no matter what form he assumed. Raven's eyes white, but the only reaction from her surroundings was the occasional crackle of black energy in the white energy ring. The only sign that Cyborg was doing anything was the look of concentration on his face and the sound of metal groaning. Starfire's eyes glowed, before crying out "My starbolts are useless!"

Mad Mod grinned malevolently. "Of course they are love." He got closer to the alien, putting a hand under her chin. "Can't have them nasty super powers interfering with my lessons, now can I?"

"Keep her hands off of her!" Snarled Robin as he tried to get free with renewed vigor.

Mod just rolled his eyes. "Now, don't get your knickers in a twist, my little snot." He said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I didn't go to all the trouble of building this school and filling your tower with knockout gas just so I could finish you off lickety-split."

"Robin wears knickers?" Beastboy asked in a conspiratorial whisper, giggling softly. Orpheus just suppressed a smile as Raven asked "Then what do you want with us?"

"Just what I said, dearie — to teach you lot a lesson! Yes, I've been watching you children misbehave. And I hate misbehaving children!"

"Misbehaving?!" Orpheus asked, getting angry. "How the hell are we misbehaving? I could understand Beastboy, but all of us? How?"

"Hey!" Beastboy said in indignation. "I resent that!"

Cyborg just rolled his eyes. "You know it's true." The cybernetic Titan said. Beastboy just looked down. "Yeah…"

" How? _How? _Fighting crime! Saving lives! Interfering with the plans of hardworking villains! _That's how!_ Why, you lot are nothing but a bunch of troublemakers! But you'll learn your place soon enough."

"I doubt that." Robin smirked. "I'm a slow learner." Orpheus's eyes bulged and he suppressed the urge to laugh. _'Did Robin just call himself a retard?'_

"I don't." Mod replied merrily. "You see, I'm older than you, so that's means I'm _bigger_, _badder_, and _better_." He said, getting in Robin's face with each word.

"Say _what_?" Cyborg was outraged. "Look here, you egotistical son of a bit-" He was interrupted by a whack to the head via Mod's cane.

"You're in my world now." Mod declared, grinning in a disturbing rendition of a certain psychotic clown's grin. A shiver went down Robin's spine at the thought. "And you won't be getting out until you've learned some proper respect."

"We will get out. And when we do-" Robin's half-hearted threat was interrupted by something that sent shivers down Orpheus's spine. The sound of a ringing high school bell.

Mad Mod looked at his wrist. "Oh, dear look at the time! Well, that was the bell. Off to class you go!"

The large black tile underneath each of their chairs split along the middle and fell inward, sending each of the Titan's into darkness.

**One long fall later, with Orpheus**

Orpheus looked around, and then sighed. _'Am I really in English class?'_ He gave a humorless chuckle. _'Another city, another state, ANOTHER FRICKEN LIFE AND I STILL CAN'T ESCAPE ENGLISH CLASS!'_

All around the room there were various posters of old English plays, such as what appeared to be a poster of incredibly messed up version Romeo and Juliet. Only instead of Romeo and Juliet it had two Mad Mod's in the picture looking into each other's eyes and holding each other lovingly. One of the Mod's was in what appeared to be a spandex version of a tuxedo. The other was in a dress. The title under it said "Mod and Mad". Orpheus shuddered and looked away. _'Some things can never be unseen.'_ He thought, shuddering again.

"Oi!" Something grabbed the back of his head as he was looking at the door behind him through the corner of his eyes. "Face forward! Pay attention!" His head got forcibly turned to do just that, facing a large, swirling black and white screen.

He felt a little dizzy looking at it at first, but that quickly faded. He grinned. "Looks like I'm immune to your little tricks. Too bad."

"Truly?" Mod's face appeared over the black and white swirls as whatever had been holding his face let go. "I don't think so. I think you're a cheating little snot!"

"Cheating?" Orpheus asked incredulously. "How the hell do you cheat at being immune to your hypnosis?"

"Simple!" Mod declared as the walls to his sides opened up and statues bearing mechanical arms bearing various toys like claws with electrified ends and topped with a bust of Mod's head. "It's obvious those goggles are interfering with your ability to see my precious screens. Hood too! My precious little friends here will make sure they don't any longer! HAHA!" Mad Mod broke off in a laughing fit at the end of it.

"Aw hell." He grumbled as the statues approached. Nick had said little about what would happen to anybody who tried to take off his hood and goggles that wasn't him or didn't know the two ways to do it. He did get the impression that it wouldn't be a pleasant experience for anyone involved though. "This is going to hurt, isn't it?"

The statues paused. "Most likely." Mod said, nodding in agreement.

Orpheus sighed. Then he started struggling with renewed vigor and the statues continued their approach. When they got there, magnifying glasses came out of the statues. "Now let's see here…Ah, there!" Orpheus screamed as the electrified ends of the claws suddenly came down on certain points on his shoulders, neck, and face.

A near unhearable beeping sound coming from the clasp of his cloak was the only warning there was before the statues suddenly seemed to convulse and explode, breaking the chair and sending him flying back with a myriad of cuts and tears to both my outfit and body.

Getting up with a moan, he opened his eyes and groaned. One thought came to him. _'I'm going to kill Nick.'_ Not only was his hood down, but he could just spot his goggles lying a ways away on the floor, ruined beyond repair. _'Mod too.'_ He thought with a growl, getting angry

"Now then, let's try this again." Mod's voice said. Danny got up and walked to the center of the room, back to the door, and then looked up lazily to the swirling screen. He stared at the screen for a few seconds of his own accord, and then shook his head.

"Nope, still nothing." He said with a wide grin.

Mod's face reappeared on the screen. "Blast! Well, guess you'll need some teaching the old fashioned way!"

Doors opened on the walls with two more of the busts of Mad Mod's head, equipped with lasers and buzz saws. Danny took a combat stance, only to hear the door behind him open and for black bolts to impact against them, destroying them both.

**With Raven, moments before**

Raven glared down at the gym outfit she had been forced to put on over her regular outfit in the gym. Whatever the clothes were, they were much stronger than normal fabric, resistant to her powers and unable to be taken off via normal means. She really didn't want to take the time to cut out of them by hand in this nut house and she could move in them well enough so she resolved to get out of them later.

Leaving the smoking wreckage of what remained of the gym, she proceeded down the rather bland hallway with doors. She flew down the hallway, not wanting to play the guessing game with what door her teammates were behind. Instead, she was flying with her eyes closed, focused on her empathetic abilities, trying to use them to locate her teammates.

Feeling a flash of anger, she increased her speed and touched down in front a wooden door labeled English Class. Opening it, she gasped with what she saw.

It was Orpheus with his back to her, but not like she'd ever seen him before. His hood was down, exposing the back of his raven black hair covered head and a small strip of pale skin from where his hair ended and his cloak began. He also had two of those strange statue things from before advancing on him. Thinking quickly, she shot off two bursts of magic at them shattering them.

Stepping forward to the unmoving Orpheus, she asked him hesitantly "Orpheus?"

She reached out to his shoulder, spinning him around just as he flipped his hood up. In the darkness of his hood, all she could make out was a pair of angry glowing green eyes and a few tuffs of black hair.

She then saw that he looked like he had just been in the middle of some kind of explosion, as he was covered in cuts and burns. "Are you ok?" She asked.

"Yeah." He nodded. Raven shook her head and pointed to the various cuts and burns that now adorned his body. He waved her hand off. "I'll heal quickly enough, don't worry about it." He assured her.

She glared at him. Funny thing was it wasn't an angry glare. It reminded him of how Sam used to glare at him whenever he got hurt ghost fighting and refused to go to the hospital for it under the explanation that it was from a 'lab accident', or take a sick day from school to heal. She relented after a second to ask "Do you know where the others are?"

Instead of answering, he closed his eyes, searching for the auras of her teammates. About five seconds later, he reopened them and looked at her, eyes still glowing ectoplasmic green. "Cyborg's already freed himself. He's a little father ahead of us in the hallway."

Raven nodded. "Then let's go."

"Oi! Not so fast, my little duckies!" Mod's voice came over the intercom. "Can't just let you rush off without proper supervision, now can I?"

As he was speaking, parts of the floor fell away, only to rise up again bearing the busts of Mod. Their mouths opened and lasers popped out.

Orpheus paled. "Well… I believe that's our cue to leave, eh?"

Raven nodded, and they both disappeared in a swirl of black energy, just as the lasers fired.

**Line Break**

Cyborg prided off the rest of the cables attached to himself, staggering out of the computer lab and being sure to shut the door behind him. Turning one of his fingers into a blowtorch, he welded the door shut so that the rampant computers inside couldn't escape. _'Man, those things are dangerous.'_ He thought bitterly, setting about running various programs to rid himself of the malignant programs that Mod's computers had downloaded onto his hard drive.

He started down the hallway, focusing on finding the others. Employing his GPS, he tried to find just where he was, only to get nothing except static. _'Figures.'_

He heard some strange sort of sound, as well as a thudding sound of something hitting the floor. Turning, sonic cannon at the ready, he was about to fire, until he saw that it was just Raven and a rather torn up Orpheus.

"Whoa, man." Cyborg said, lowering his arm and looking over Orpheus. "What happened to you?"

Orpheus grimaced. "Let's just say that Mad Mod didn't like that I was immune to his hypnoscreens in English Class and let's leave it at that."

Cyborg nodded, and then turned to Raven. "And where did our insane captor send you?"

Raven held open her cloak, revealing that she still wore the gym uniform. "Gym." She said, by way of explanation. "And you?"

Cyborg scowled. "Computer lab. I'm still getting all the computer viruses off my system. Don't suppose you could get us out of here, could you?"

Orpheus was in his face in milliseconds. For the first time, Cyborg noticed he wasn't wearing his goggles and that he had angry glowing green eyes. "And abandon the others?" He snarled.

Cyborg backed up. "So we can come back with backup. This place is huge; it's interfering with my sensors. I don't want to abandon the others any more than you do, but it's going to take time to search this place by ourselves and find them."

"Even if that is true, I can't get us out of here." Raven interrupted. "Whatever sort of technology he used earlier to restrain me he also has built into this place. I can use all my powers and teleport anywhere I want as long as it's in here. Orpheus, can't you just turn intangible and just start running in one direction to get out?"

Orpheus shook his head. "No can do. Whatever this place is, it's mostly made out of stuff I can't phase through."

"I think we should find the others." Raven stated, stopping Cyborg from saying anything more.

Orpheus nodded. Closing his eyes, he remained like that for a while. Opening them, he gestured to down the hallway where Cyborg had just been walking toward. "There."

**Earlier, with Robin**

"Now then, if you're going to destroy school property, school property is going to destroy you!" Came the psychotic voice over the intercom as the head of a missile missile suddenly tore through the wall. "Now then, count along with Moddie! 10, 9, 8…"

Robin groaned, tossing another bird-a-rang at the statue, destroying the laser on it.

"4, 3, 2…"

Panicking, he hoped he wasn't wrong as he dove at the far wall, just as the missile was launched. _'I'm screwed if this is really a wall rather than a curtain like I hope.'_ It wasn't. He tore through it, just as the missile was going through. It hit the floor where he had just been, blasting him much higher in the air than his jump would've originally taken him.

Landing gracefully, he saw that he was in some kind of hallway painted with the same black and white swirls. He smirked. "There goes my chance at perfect attendance."

"Don't be so sure, my little duckie!" Came a voice from behind him. He turned to see Mad Mod standing there, grinning like a Cheshire cat. "You might be out of the classroom, but school is _never_ over!"

"We'll see about that!" He charged at the mad redhead, intending on forcing him to tell him the location of his teammates. As expected, Mod turned and ran.

What followed was the craziest chase Robin had ever had, and likely, ever would. Mod ran on the ceiling, laughing "First lesson: Physics! What goes up stays up!"

"Til _I_ bring it down!" Robin replied, tossing an exploding pellet at Mod. It would've hit… if gravity didn't chose that moment to change. Suddenly, he was falling head forward and was now on what used to be the ceiling with Mod. Quickly getting to his feet, he just barely managed to avoid his own explosive. Mod started running away, laughing.

Mod turned down one corridor. Robin attempted to follow, only to hit a wall. He recovered quickly and followed the next flash of red he saw, only to end up back in the first room that they had met Mod in.

He was there, at the top of a long flight of stairs. "You might as well throw in the towel Laddie!" Chortled Mod. "You can't catch the likes of me!"

"We'll see about that!"

Robin jumped up high in the air and, using an impressive amount of acrobatics, landed on the banister of the first flight of stairs. Demonstrating supreme balance, he ran along it, and then back flipped off the end. Landing on the second flight of stairs, he began running up them, sprinting hard.

It was for nothing. With a lazy sigh, and the pressing of the button on the ruby topped cane, the stairs turned into escalator. Mod tisked. "Children these days." He said, shaking his head. "They never le—"He had to stop and quickly dodge a bird-a-rang. "Hey! No throwing things while teacher is talking!"

Robin ignored him, instead just shot a grapple right above Mod's head. Fleeing, Mod vanished through the door, closing it behind him. Riding the grapple up, Robin burst through the doors to find… a room that looked just like the last one? With no Mad Mod in sight?

"What the hell?" Robin mumbled. "Something's not right here…" Those thoughts were evicted from his mind forcefully when he heard a familiar voice scream. Sprinting down to the room from where he had heard it come from, he opened a door labeled "Library" and was met with a maze of bookcases. Hearing another scream coming from somewhere inside, he narrowed his eyes and grappled up to the top of the book case. He heard a smashing sound and, looking in the direction he heard it in. Seeing a large smasher going down, he jumped from bookcase to bookcase toward it. When he got there, he saw that it was indeed Starfire that had been screaming. And she had good reason to, as she was about to be smashed.

Working quickly, he jumped off the side of the bookcase and landed on the ground, and then rocketed forward, pushing the trapped Starfire and himself out of the way of the crusher. Wasting no time, he quickly brought out his lock picking kit and used it to free one of Starfire's hands. Starfire then used said hand to blast free of her other restraints.

Starfire opened her mouth to say something; probably a "Thank You" but she never got the chance. Taking flight from their bookshelf homes, the books rose up and launched themselves at the pair.

Taking her hand, he yelled "Come on!" He dove toward the bookcase, watching as the spot they were just at was bombarded with books that exploded on impact. Wincing at the sight, he started climbing the bookcase, only for Starfire to remember that she was capable of flight. Grabbing onto his arm, she flew the both of them up and deposited him on the bookcase. Turning, she shot off a few starbolts, nailing quite a few of the books with them. She looked triumphant, until more of them rose up.

Robin threw a bird-a-rang, taking out a few of them, but it didn't seem to make much of a dent. Shaking his head, he yelled "Star, there's too many of them. Follow me back to the door!"

Starfire nodded, flying in the air beside him, explosive books in hot pursuit. Jumping from bookcase to bookcase, he retraced his footsteps from where he had entered and hoped that the entrance was still there. _'With a place as crazy as this, you can never know.'_ He thought bitterly. Thankfully it was and the duo managed to just barely get on the other side and Starfire used her starbolts to weld the door shut as multiple explosions were heard on the other side.

When they subsided, Robin breathed a sigh of relief. Looking around, he frowned. _'This is the same door that I went through into here. So how am I in a different room?'_ This new room was a hallway of sorts, with the walls covered in confusing black and white swirls. Starfire moved to speak, but he cut her off. "Don't thank me yet. With this place, it looks like you get out of one trap and…" Multiple busts of Mod came out, this time the bottom of their columns those busts were riding on folded over, revealing a row of missiles. Eyes widening, Robin prepared to run as he finished "…and right into another. Run!" He took off running as the missiles launched.

Mad Mod laughing uproariously could be heard over the intercom. "Run my duckies, run all you like!" His voice darkened, getting serious. "But you'll _never_ get out!"

The floor gave way beneath him at the word "never" and he fell, Starfire flying after him. They (Read: He, Starfire never stopped flying) landed in what seemed to be a chemistry lab. All through the room there were large vials filled to the brim with bubbling chemicals, each one giving off foul smells. At the head of the room was Beastboy, still in his chair with his back turned to them. He was looking directly at the hypnoscreen.

"Beastboy!" Starfire called, flying up to him to see that he had a vacant look on his face. His mouth was open slightly, drool leaking from his mouth.

"Ah, model student that one." Robin really wished Mod would stop with his monologue. "Sits there, quietly." _'Actually, Beastboy's giving off some sort of low gurgling sound.'_ Robin thought, amused. "Doesn't think about misbehaving. In fact, he doesn't think at all!"

Mod broke off into a fit of laughter as Starfire brought her hand up to the wall, ready to blast the hypnoscreen to bits before Robin quickly rushed forward and stopped her. "Don't!"

"Why not?"

Robin pointed at Beastboy. "Free Beastboy first. Destroying that screen may trigger some kind of trap" He heard a popping sound behind him. Glancing, he saw that the chemical vials were starting to over boil. "Hurry!" He begged her on.

Starfire ripped Beastboy's restraints off with minimal trouble, save for the rubber bands. Robin nodded. Gesturing to the comatose Beastboy, he said "There's your hall pass. Meet you outside." Starfire nodded. Picking up her green teammate, she flew the two of them out the door. Focusing, Robin jumped along the melting chairs skillfully, and then swung off some kind of diagram model, landing in the doorway. Starfire shut it as soon as he was through, welding it shut.

**With Orpheus**

"Is there a good reason you're still wearing all that clothing?"

"Not really, no."

"Then take it off."

Raven growled, obvious annoyed by more than the blatant innuendo. "Can't. My powers don't work on them, they don't come off like normal clothing, and I don't have anything to cut them off with."

Orpheus blinked. They were jogging toward where Orpheus knew where his teammates were based on their auras. The strange thing was that where they were kept switching, like they'd be going in one direction and suddenly their auras would move so that they were in the opposite direction. During the course of running, they would occasionally encounter those busts of Mod bearing weapons and have to fight and destroy them. While fighting, Raven's cloak had flown open and Orpheus had been reminded that Raven was wearing a gym uniform over her regular clothing. "_That_'s the reason you're still wearing that?"

Raven nodded, earning a chuckle from Orpheus. "What's so funny about that?"

"If you needed something sharp to get them off, all you needn't have done is ask nicely to get something." While speaking, Orpheus stopped moving and held his hand up. Slowly, a small dagger made entirely out of semi-clear ice formed above his hand. When it was done, he handed it to her with a smile. "Here, you can use that."

Raven eyed him suspiciously as she took it. _'It's not nearly as cold as it should be…'_ It felt just a little bit colder than it would've been if it had been made out. It was a rather simple straight, double edged dagger, with a hand guard and a handle that was the right size for her hand. Turning so that her cloak obscured her from her teammates, she quickly sliced off the gym clothes, rather amazed at how sharp the dagger was. Returning that dagger to him, she thanked him quietly. Orpheus just did his rendition of a Cheshire cat grin in reply.

As Orpheus reabsorbed the ice dagger, Cyborg began tapping his foot impatiently. "Are we ready to go yet?"

Orpheus nodded. "Yup. The others are…" He closed his eyes, concentrating. "…in the room behind that door actually."

"Huh. Well, ok…" Cyborg said, opening the door. Peering around, he looked in the rather large room. "You sure? I don't see anyone."

Orpheus rolled his eyes at the question. "They're hiding over there." He said, pointing lazily at the far staircase.

Orpheus watched in mild amusement as Starfire and Robin leaped out of their hiding place upon hearing his words, Starfire carrying a comatose Beastboy who was just staring out into space blankly.

Robin frowned when he looked at Orpheus's torn up outfit. "What happened to you?"

"Tell you later" Orpheus mumbled, looking at Beastboy. "What's up with Beastboy?" He asked, waving a hand in front of his face. Beastboy just kept staring out into space blankly.

"We cannot wake him no matter what we do." Starfire answered. "No matter how much I do the yelling in his ear, he refuses to respond!" She finished with a panicked sound of voice.

"Orpheus, maybe you could just go inside his head and fix him?" Robin questioned. Orpheus just looked at the Boy Wonder like he was an idiot, prompting him to ask "What?"

Orpheus just rolled his eyes. "The mind is not so simple. It is not a simple machine, easy to fix should something go wrong. There is no part you can replace, no reset button you can hit." He paused, licking his lips. "Perhaps if I had a while, I could, but right now we'd be better off just carrying him around if we can't wake him up right away."

"Have you tried _this_?" Cyborg walked up to Beastboy, grabbed his ear and proceeded to burp into it. _Loudly_.

Beastboy immediately sat up straight, laughing. "Dude! Good one!" He then looked around, looking confused. "What the hell? Where am I, and how did I get here?"

"Hypnosis." Robin answered. "Seems like you can't remember anything from the time you were under." He turned to Orpheus, smirking. "Thought you said that it wasn't that simple?"

"Only Beastboy would be motivated to break out of hypnosis to laugh at something." Replied Orpheus dryly. "Now that's he's with us, what do we do now? From the looks of this place, getting out won't be as simple as walking through the front door."

Robin looked at Cyborg. "Cyborg, what do your sensors say about this place?"

"You mean the ones that aren't scrambled?" He answered dryly. "There is definitely something not right about this place. I can't pinpoint what though. Worth taking a closer look though…"

"Oi!" Called out a dreadfully familiar voice. Everybody turned to see Mad Mod at the top of the stair case, twirling his cane. "Break time's over." He called out cheerfully. "Now off to class! Wouldn't want to anger the hall monitor, now would you?" He pressed a button on his cane, laughing.

"That cane controls everything in this place. If we get it—"

"We can turn this place against him" Cyborg finished, grinning madly.

"That's does not seem to be the most pressing matter at the moment." Starfire said, pointing behind him.

They turned, seeing a hole had opened up in the floor behind. As they were watching, a figure slowly rose up from the floor. The person was female, having black hair put up in two long pony tails, and was wearing a green kimono that ended mid calf and sleeves that were longer than her arms, matching boots that went up to her knee's, and a white Cheshire mask.

"Just who the hell are you?" Orpheus asked. The figure, didn't answer, merely cocking her head in curiosity.

"She's my hall monitor, my little ducky!" Mod broke off into another laughing fit. "Better run, she doesn't like people out in the halls without permission!" He turned and casually walked out the door behind him, twirling his cane and whistling a jaunty toon as he did so, confident his so called "Hall monitor" could handle his prisoners.

Robin cursed under his breath. "We don't have time for this!" He whispered angrily. "We have to get that cane if we ever want to get out of here."

Orpheus made a split second decision. "You guys go and get that cane. I'll stay here and keep Cheshire busy."

"You sure man?" Cyborg whispered, keeping an eye on the oddly still Cheshire.

Orpheus nodded, before grabbing Robin's shoulder. Pulling him close, he whispered "Robin, while Mod had me he did something to destroy my goggles and get my hood to lower. I wear a hood and goggles for the same reason you wear a mask." His glowing green eyes burned into the white lens of Robin's mask. "I need _you_ to destroy Mod's computer system. I can't have any record of my identity getting out. I also need a moment to adjust wipe Mod's memories of my face."

Robin gave him a hard stare and nodded. Turning to the rest of the team, he nodded. "Titan's, get him!" He said running after Mod.

Cheshire didn't seem to want to let them to go. She jumped high into the air, and tossed several kunai **(AN 1)** at them, only for them to be intercepted by a wide, green shield. Orpheus readied light up his hand green and shot a Ghost Ray at the villain, causing her to have to twist in midair to avoid it. Landing with her left side to the hero's, she turned to see that they had all disappeared, save Orpheus.

Orpheus grinned. "I'm going to guess you're not much of a talker, huh?" Another small hail of kunai in his direction was his only answer.

Orpheus rolled his eyes as another green shield sprung into existence, only just big enough to shield him. "If that's all you can do, then this is going to get boring fast." He taunted.

Cheshire seemed to take that as a challenge. To his surprise, she slowly faded out of sight. The design on her mask faded last, lingering suspended in the air, until even that faded out of sight.

"Invisibility, huh?" Orpheus murmured, looking around. Pure instinct at hearing the whistle of a blade cutting through the air was the only thing that saved him, bringing his arm up to protect himself. He grimaced as the his sleeve was slashed open in three places as Cheshire suddenly rematerialized right in front of him, arm outstretched from slashing and hands gripping three kunai between her fingers.

Quickly, he rolled to the side to dodge another slash, only to watch as she once again faded out of sight. He smirked. "Two can play that game." He said, going invisible.

He decided to make it a war of attrition. _'Wonder who can stay invisible the longest…'_ It was evident that he would not win that battle, as another three slashes appeared, this time on his back. He cried out, falling onto one knee. Quickly rolling to one side to avoid another slash, he cursed as Cheshire disappeared again.

"How the hell did you know where I was?!" He called out, frustrated.

Cheshire reappeared right in front of him. She put one hand to her ear and the other to her chest, moving the latter up and down with her breath. Orpheus cocked his head. "You heard my breath?"

She nodded. He furrowed his brow. "I didn't think I breathed that hard…"

She shook her head. She pointed to her ear again and held up her other hand, made a fist with her thumb pointing toward the ceiling. "You have very good hearing?"

She nodded again. Taking advantage of her new informative mood to get more time to speed up the healing of his various cuts, he asked "Ok, I'm curious. Are you a mute or something?"

She just shrugged, and then faded back out of view. He quickly put up a dome of green energy around himself, laughing silently when Cheshire reappeared on the other side with her arms crossed, and body language radiating frustration. Taping the shield with a finger, she peered at it curiously. Suddenly she jumped back, launching a small cluster little round black pellets at him. The explosive pellets exploded on impact, kicking up enough smoke to completely obscure the other side of the shield.

He grinned when the smoke cleared, and he was still alright. He stuck out his tongue at the frustrated Cheshire. She just cocked her head, and then pointed to the ceiling above his head.

Confused, Orpheus looked at the ceiling above his head to see several sticks of dynamite stuck to the ceiling. He looked at Cheshire, to see she was holding a detonator in her right hand. He only got a chance to say two words before she hit the red button. "Aw, hell."

The grin on Cheshire's mask seemed to widen as the ceiling exploded. It seemed to widen even further when part of the ceiling collapsed, crushing and burying everything underneath it in rubble. Cheshire stood, as still as a statue, watching the dust settle. When all she saw of Orpheus was a piece of his cloak that had torn off on one of the rocks, a smirk formed underneath her mask as she turned to walk away.

When she almost back at the center of the room, her feet suddenly got cold and her boots stuck to the floor. Looking down, her eyes widened underneath her mask as she saw that her boots were covered in ice. She watched in abstract horror as the ice spread up her legs, stopping at her waist.

She struggled against the ice, hitting with her fists as hard as she could, but it didn't as much as crack. From his invisible crouched position behind her, Orpheus smirked. _'Really shouldn't tell your opponent you can tell where they are when they're invisible by hearing their breath. They just might be able hold their breath for a good long time. Good thing I perfected that trick of channeling cryoplasm through solid objects to freeze things far away too.'_

Slowly getting up from his crouch, he turned visible and walked leisurely toward the restrained masked villain. "Looks like you're caught." He smirked at Cheshire. She let out a low growl and slashed at him. He rolled his eyes as he caught her arm by her wrist and encased her arm all the way to her shoulder in ice as well. "Really?" He said, bored.

She resumed struggling, earning an eye roll from the grey cloaked hero. "You're not going to break out of ice that hard by hand you know."

She seemed to take that as a challenge, struggling harder. Rolling his eyes again, he said "Look, it's been fun, but, as you seem to be a little stuck at the moment, I think I'll catch up with my friends." He turned and began walking away in a manner similar to that of masked villain behind him.

He had just reached the door when he heard a rather loud 'boom' behind him and turned just in time to see the masked villain, free of the ice, launch herself through the air at him, turning invisible as she did so.

Getting an idea, he closed his eyes and sought out her aura, hoping that turning invisible didn't cloak her aura or anything like that. He found it easily, sneaking up on his right side. He resisted the urge to smirk, instead school his face to one of frustration, as if he couldn't find her. He waited… and waited… and till she was well within range of his fist. With all the speed and force that he could muster, he channeled his super strength into a rib-shattering uppercut, straight to her chest. Completely surprised and unprepared, there was nothing Cheshire could do to block it. The punch drove the air out of her lungs and sent her flying, as well as cracking a rib or two.

Heaving from the sudden forced loss of air in her lungs, as well as fighting against the sudden painful tightness in her chest and counting her stars that she wasn't coughing up blood from a punctured lung, she slowly got to her feet. She looked up to see Orpheus rushing at her with all the force of a freight train. She tried to turn invisible again, but the pain in her chest made it impossible for her to garner the necessary concentration. Panicking, she reached inside her kimono and withdrew a smoke pellet. Throwing it on the ground just as Orpheus reached her, the world exploded into white smoke Orpheus let out a growl as he activated the brass knuckles in his gloves and took a wild swing at where the villain had been, surprised when he actually felt something shatter underneath his fist. When the smoke cleared, all Orpheus saw of the villain was a shattered Cheshire mask, lying discarded on the floor, which he pocketed.

Orpheus closed his eyes, feeling out for her aura and found that it was fleeing to the west at a rapid pace."Well… that was fun." He accelerated the healing of his cuts to the point that they were fully healed in just a few minutes. Now healed, he closed his eyes again to find the aura's of his team mates, mumbling under his breath as he did so "I wonder what Robin's been up to…"

He turned to the door, when he heard a strange sound, like a giant computer firing up, only to shut down almost immediately. He looked around to see that the environment had faded in on itself to become a bunch of plain metal walls, white curtains.

Orpheus was confused, until realization hit him like a brick wall. _'This entire place was full of illusions.'_ He laughed, shaking his head.

Locking back on to the rest of his team mates, he noticed that they were all together with another aura he didn't recognize. _'Must be Mod.'_ They were also a _lot_ closer than they appeared to be earlier. _'Wow. How can they be that close and not be able to tell?'_

He quickly opened the door in front of him and raced down the hallway. Turning the corner he ran down it and continued down it. Going to a seemingly random door, he was just about to open it when it opened on its own and he collided with someone. On instinct born from years of rushing to class and colliding with someone on the way, he grabbed them to stop them from falling to see that he had grabbed…

**With Robin**

Robin wasn't very happy. After leaving Orpheus to deal with Cheshire at his own request, they had been subjected to what Robin would always call in his mind as the craziest pursuit ever. Robin wasn't sure how Mod did it, but the laws of physics and reality itself seemed to come undone here at his whim.

They chase the crazed Britain down a hallway and as they were running, gravity would reverse for them, but Mod would remain on what was then the ceiling, laughing. Mod goes through a door, Titan's follow, but when they open the door Mod would be nowhere in sight. Mod would run down a hallway, and they'd follow him, only to run into a wall that was painted to look like a hallway. Then they'd spot Mod somewhere off in the distance, laughing at their misfortune.

To make matters worse, he had the distinct feeling that he was running in a circle. No matter what, the white and black swirly designs on the hallway never seemed to change. His temper was rising, as the more he thought about it, the more like it seemed like Mod was doing nothing more than mocking them. Letting them wear themselves out by running after him. In the entire chase, they had yet to encounter any more of those strange weapon toting Mod busts, which only served to strengthen his theory.

Currently, they were facing what appeared to be the exit. "Yo, is this for real?" Cyborg exclaimed, not daring to reach forward and shatter the newfound illusion of freedom.

'_Not likely.'_ Robin thought darkly, noting the absence of any sort of breeze as well as how still the whole scene seemed to be. Still, he pushed on, tired. "Only one way to find out." He answered.

Slowly, as a team, they reached forward, only to fall through a flimsy paper screen. Robin sighed, resting his hands on his knees. "Why don't we take a closer look around?" Asked their fearless leader. "Something's not right about this place."

"What was your first-" Whatever Beastboy was about to say was interrupted by Raven's elbow in his ribs. "Hey! That hurt!"

Raven ignored him, instead peering curiously at the nearby wall, frowning as she ran her hands over it. "Robin." Said Boy-Wonder looked over to the sorceress. "Over here."

Robin walked over and put his hand where Raven pointed at. "What the hell…?" He frowned, looking at the wall underneath his green gloved hand. "This whole place…" Robin shook his head. "It's nothing but one big illusion."

"Question is how we get out of it?" Cyborg asked, after joining them with their inspection of the wall.

Robin shook his head. "Everything has its weak points. We just got to find them. Come on, let's go."

**Line Break**

Mod peered at the screen curiously."Where the bloody hell did those little duckies go?" He muttered irritably. The only one he could see was the one that was immune to his wonderfully mind numbing hypnosis, Orpheus. And he was just walking the halls, seemingly randomly switching directions. "I swear this whole thing has become more trouble than it's worth."

"It's about to get worse." The elderly Mod turned to see Robin standing there, a hard expression on his face. Behind him, the rest of the team stood by, save Orpheus.

"Now, now sonny." Pleaded old Mod as he backed up out of his chair, hands up in surrender, from the approaching Robin. "No need to get vio-"He was cut off by Robin's fist colliding with his face, bringing him to the ground. He groaned in pain, rubbing his cheek.

Robin ignored his protests as he hand cuffed Mod's hands behind his back. Turning back to Mod's rather large computer terminal, he sat down in the chair Mod just vacated. Pulling a USB drive, he pulled off the cap and plugged it into the first available port he could find.

"What are you plugging into my system?!" Mod asked, beside himself with horror.

Robin smirked. "Just a cocktail of various programs, viruses and whatnot. Design to wipe, crash, and disable anything electronically that it get's plugged into, as well as delete all the data in it."

As Mad Mod let out a cry of horror, one by one, each of the screens went back. Robin grinned when it was done. He gagged Mod and hefted him over his shoulder. Looking to Raven, he asked "Raven, can you find Orpheus, and then get us all back to the tower?"

Raven nodded, and then closed her eyes for a few minutes. She turned, and walked out the door, right into someone. She was about to fall to the ground when said someone caught her. As soon as she regained her bearing enough for her to realize that it was both Orpheus who had knocked her down and Orpheus who was now holding her up in his arms, she gave him a death glare.

Orpheus looked down at Raven nervously, and then paled. If looks could kill, the look Raven was giving him would have him dead and buried. "Umm… H—Hey Ra—Raven. What's going on?"

She looked at him like he was an idiot. "Let. Me. _Go_." He followed her instructions to the letter, scrambling back for added measure. She glared at him for a few minutes, and then relented. "The others are over here." She said tonelessly, turning and walking away.

Feeling secure that his life was not at danger at being ended, he followed her back to where Robin was standing with an elderly Mod slung over his shoulder. Without a word, Orpheus gestured toward the dark monitors. Robin smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry." He said. "I took care of it." Robin held up struggling Mod. "Only one thing left."

Orpheus walked up to the struggling old Mod and, in one quick move, gave him a chop to the back of his head, knocking him unconscious. "It's easier if they're unconscious." He said, by way of explanation to Robin's curious glance. Orpheus took a second to center himself, before turning intangible and walking into his body. He exited it about a minute later, looking thoughtful.

Orpheus was able to wipe Mod's surprisingly sane mind of all knowledge of his appearance and then looked to see how he had gotten into the tower so that he and Cyborg could patch the hole in security later. After he had managed to find all that, he looked to see if there was a reason that Mod had come after them, and there was where it got disturbing. Apparently, Mod had been sent an anonymous email that encouraged him to 'teach misbehaving kids' a lesson. Cheshire had apparently been hired to help and Mod had been given a bank account containing money to be used to help.

Robin frowned deeply when Orpheus recounted all this to him, and then shook his head. "Let's just get out of this crazy place and back to the tower. I'll interrogate Mod later to see if there is anything you might've missed. "Raven?"

**At the tower, later**

A tired Orpheus walked into his room. After getting back to the tower via Raven's teleportation, observing Robin's fruitless interrogation of old Mod, patching up the holes in security with Cyborg, listening to the meat vs. tofu/veggie debate/argument, ending the meat vs. tofu/veggie debate/argument, helping cook dinner after ending it (Which brought up painful memories of his mom and later his sister teaching him how to cook), and enduring Robin's questioning about what happened between Cheshire and him when the rest of team left, all in sweaty, bloody, dirty clothes, he was dead tired, pun not intended.

He emptied his pockets out on the dresser, putting the pieces of Cheshire's mask away for later inspection. Stripping down, he put his dirty clothes on a pile on the floor, resolving to do something about it and the newly revealed weakness in the hood/goggles mechanism later. He grabbed a white T-shirt and shorts to change into and went into the shower.

He took a long, hot shower. Getting out, he phased the water off of him and put on his shirt and shorts and walked out of the shower.

Coming out of shower via phasing through the door, he was treated to the sight of a blond female someone with a tanned skin tone wearing dark blue jeans, black sneakers and a black short sleeved shirt and a black leather jacket with her arms crossed over her chest standing with her back to him, looking in the window. Instantly he went invisible, slowing down his breathing and stepping as lightly as possible to avoid detection.

She turned anyway, scanning the room with her chocolate brown eyes. Her eyes settled around the general area of where he was. To his surprise, she rolled her eyes at him. "Relax, man. I'm with the **S**trategic **H**omeland **I**ntervention, **E**nforcement and **L**ogistics **D**ivision." She said in a casual, laidback tone. He remained invisible, holding his breath and not moving a muscle. She huffed in frustration. "Nick Fury's unofficial agency?"

He turned visible and lit up one of his hands green, pointing it at the stranger. "Prove it." He challenged.

She rolled her eyes again as she put her hands up in surrender. Pointing to where he had placed the communicator Nick gave him; she said "That's one of our communicators." He didn't lower his hand. "I have one too." Slowly, she reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a communicator identical to the one and tossed it on the bed. "And an ID and badge." She reached back into her pocket and pulled out a little ID card, then a badge and tossed them both on the bed.

He picked up the communicator first, looking it over. It was identical to his, so he put it back down. He looked at the badge. From his few encounters with the police, it looked real, so he put it back. Last thing he did was look at the ID card. It had a close up picture of her face, a bar code, and labeled her as Agent Jane Smith of the **S**trategic **H**omeland **I**ntervention, **E**nforcement and **L**ogistics **D**ivision.

"The **S**trategic **H**omeland **I**ntervention, **E**nforcement and **L**ogistics **D**ivision." He said, testing it out on his tongue and shook his head. "Now I know why Nick never told me their name. Man that's a mouthful."

She smiled. "I know. You wouldn't believe how often people tell us that. But we're working on it."

He threw her back her communicator and badge. "I believe you when you say you're an agent of Nick's but…" He showed her the ID, pointing to where her name was. "…Why does this not seem like your real name?"

Jane smirked as she walked up and accepted the ID back from him. "It's not. Standard operation procedure is to never give our real names."

Danny frowned. "If you never give your real names, then how can anybody ever really trust you?"

She shrugged. "I guess you can't. If you really have to, you can just give me a nickname and I'll go by that to you if you want."

Danny took a second to look her over. She was older than him, but still rather young. _'Early twenties, I would guess.'_ She was just a couple inches shorter than he was, with the lithe body of a dancer. "How about 'Blondie'?

She blinked incredulously. "Blondie? Really? That's the best you could come up with?"

Danny shrugged.

The newly dubbed Blondie sighed. "Alright. Agent Blondie it is then." She gave him a look. "But only when we're alone. Around anyone else, it's Agent Jane, alright?"

He nodded in ascent. "As fun as this has been, I doubt you came here just to talk."

Blondie nodded. "You'd be right. I've been assigned as your go between in the agency."

"Go between?"

Blondie nodded. "Basically it means that if you ever need anything from the agency like sensitive information, files, assistance, or anything like that I'm the one they try to send first. If I'm unavailable, like if I'm on a mission or something, then they send someone else with a reason why I can't make it." He voice gained a sarcastic overtone. "It also means I have the _joy_ of being the one to handle the agencies files on _you_."

Danny rolled his eyes at her sarcasm. "Don't take this the wrong way, but you're not what I imagined an agent to be."

Blondie chuckled. "Let me guess. You expected male, old, pale and bad sense of humor, wearing a cheap suit." He nodded. "Yeah, that's what a lot of people say. Just count your stars you didn't get Agent Coulson. He's _exactly_ the kind of guy you'd expect an agent to be, not that that's a bad thing." Blondie pulled out a rather thick file from the inside of her jacket, with the symbol for 'The Order' on it and handed it to him. She grinned at him. "There you go. A copy of all the files we have on The Order, as a start."

Danny accepted the file gratefully. Going to his desk, he put the files in his desk and locked it. "Thanks, I'll look at it later."

She nodded. "We also received a signal earlier today, telling of the tampering of your hood mechanism and the destruction of a pair of your goggles. Mind explaining what exactly happened?" When Danny recounted what happened with Mod, she frowned. "Seems like you've uncovered a flaw. I'll report it back to Headquarters."

"What'll I do about the flaw?"

She shrugged. "Avoid anything that might exploit it for now is all I can tell you. It'll take about a week to correct the flaw in the devices and produce replacements for you." Danny nodded in agreement. She gave him a strange look. "Oh and before I forget, if any of the other agents ask, your name is Agent Phantom or Orpheus if you're in character, got it?"

Danny frowned. "Why? I wasn't aware I got a job working for you guys."

Blondie chuckled. "You're considered an asset to the agency, a very small step below being an actual agent. As such you get your own case worker, aka _me_, and, since its protocol for nobody to know anybody else's real names save for an asset's case worker and the higher ups, a code name, among other things. Given your past, you were given the code name Phantom."

Danny nodded. "What other things?"

Blondie waved him off. "Really you don't get much more than your status as a Titan doesn't already grant you. Anything more I'll tell you about as it comes up, ok?" She pulled out another ID and handed it to him. "You're ID." She said by way of explanation.

The halfa took it, turning it over in his hands. It looked identical to Blondie's, except it had a picture of his face in human form and listed his name Agent Phantom. He turned it over and was treated to a picture of his face in ghost form. Other than that, it was identical to the first side. "If I were you, I'd make it a habit of keeping that on you somewhere safe, ok?"

Danny nodded, pocketing the card. "You said you were able to get files for me, right?"

Blondie nodded slowly. "I have to go through the proper channels and see if it is information I have access to and information I can give to you, as well as any restrictions that might be on you on what you can do with it. That entire process can take a while, but yes, I can."

Danny nodded. "Can you get me everything you guys have on Dani with an I rather than a 'y' Phantom and someone who calls herself 'Nymph'?"

Blondie frowned. "Do you have pictures?"

Danny went to his computer and brought up two pictures. One of Dani in her ghost form that he'd found on the internet and another he'd snapped of Nymph discreetly with his goggles. He pointed out which was which, earning a nod from Blondie.

"I'll see what I can dig up. Anything else?"

Danny nodded. "Yeah, I do have one question."

"What?"

Danny fixed her with a look. "Exactly why is it that you guy's visit whenever I get out of the shower? What would you have done if I decided to walk out of the shower naked? This is my own room after all."

**End Chapter**

**AN 1: Imagine Naruto style kunai when imagining Cheshire's kunai, except thinner and a little smaller.**

**Any Harry Potter fans here might want to check out my new story ****No Longer Human****. I'm not abandoning this one, but I'll take a break and write a chapter or two for NLH every now and then. But APOAT is still my main focus at this moment. (And for the foreseeable future it will be)**

**Considering how drawn out the last episode was, I thought I'd wrap this one up in one chapter. What episode do you people think should be next?**

**Be sure to review. Reviews motivate me to write.**


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